Afterlife
by Mastermind416
Summary: Ten years after Kadic, the group has gone their separate ways and lead their separate lives. X.A.N.A. is long gone, but something else is troubling the world. If not X.A.N.A., then who is it?
1. Prelude: Creation and Back Story

**Current Updates**

***This section has current updates on Afterlife.***

***For the prelude just scroll down.***

**My last review was from chapter 7, and I'm on chapter 13 right now... -_-**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Hello! This is my second update of the early episodes of the Afterlife series. I will be revising all of my earlier episodes that I see fit need it.**

**Anyways, when I wrote this, I meant for it to be confusing. In later episodes you'll find out what all of this means.**

Afterlife Prelude

_The void;_

_cold_

_dark_

_The near death of one,_

_The certain death of all others_

_The virus;_

_malicious_

_deceiving_

_His thirst for power,_

_Is never quenched_

_The warriors;_

_benevolent_

_true_

_Saviors of life_

_Guardians of light_

_The future;_

_Unpredictable_

_Inconceivable _

_None can know,_

_Save God himself_

_The System;_

_Life-giving_

_Love-giving_

_Another chapter_

_in the warriors' story._

Ten years, ten long years of isolation. All for one "life", one single "individual", committed to secrecy.

"Am I complete?" he wonders, "Am I truly finished?"

"Yes my creation," he says, "you are complete."

But before the "Completion" has anything to say, the Creator says, "Initiate phase one of program '_Omega Delta_'"

"You command me O sovereign maker" Completion says.

That is when Completion stops and doesn't sense the Creator anymore.

"A task has been given to me," he thinks, "and it is my job to complete it."

And so begins the end.

It's been ten years since the liberation of Lyoko, and I wish I could say that all has been well. After Kadic, the group was split to go their separate ways and lead there separate lives.

Yumi, went on to study the Japanese language and culture at the Paris-Sorbonne University. She later got a job at teaching the very subject she learned.

Jeremy moved to New York City, and began a company known as "Jem Corporations", a multi-billion dollar empire much like Microsoft and Apple put together.

Aileta became the co-founder of Jem and VP of the company.

Odd dropped out of college and was last seen leaving Kadic with his things.

Ulrich's future is going to be revealed in chapter one of the series. The series that I am building is approximately ten years into the future of the official Code Lyoko.

More plot information will be revealed in future episodes. But some information is revealed in the poem at the beginning and the "Creation" story. Try to decipher it, any ideas can be written in the reviews, messaged to me, or emailed to me.

_To be continued..._

_**I.R.I.S.**_

_**I.R.I.S.**_


	2. Chapter 1 Reunion P1

**Hey! This is the first part of Afterlife.**

**I hope you enjoy it, it was a lot of fun writing so I hope it's just as much fun reading it.**

**This is an edited version from my previous flukes, I've fixed some paragraph spacing and organization errors that I saw.**

**Anyway... enjoy!**

**Afterlife Part 1**

"Flight 118 will board at gate 23 in two hours." boomed the intercom.

Ulrich had been waiting at the French Airport for about 8 hours now, reminiscing on a life long forgotten. "Ten years," he thought "ten long years of uncertainty."

That's how long its been since the liberation of Lyoko. He'd been with his friends for a while after that but when they all graduated, they lost contact. He heard Jeremy went off to America, and that Aileta followed. And he'd heard Yumi went to college and studied Japanese.

But Odd, Odd was a tough nut to crack. He hadn't seen or heard from Odd for the longest time, so long it seemed like eons.

While Ulrich was still pondering a women came to sit beside him wearing sunglasses and carrying a hand bag. She simply sat down and looked into her newspaper while he sat there with nothing but his mind.

After an hour the woman got up to get herself a snack. Bored, Ulrich was about to pull out a his phone when the intercom beeped, "Gate 23 will be boarding early."

The woman he had seen earlier was rushing back to get her things and head to the desk to present her ticket. Ulrich picked himself up from off the seat and casually walked to the desk to hand her the ticket. Then he simply walked onto the plane and picked a seat for himself.

It was a long trip, longer than he expected it to be. But he made it. The crappy coach seating he'd paid for was cramped and uncomfortable, and just to add salt to the wound there was hardly a soul on board.

He played around with the idea of some spy getting up and fighting to the death with some of the passengers when "Attention passengers, we will land in New York in ten minutes. Thank you for choosing France Airlines."

When they landed Ulrich got out of the airport and into the streets. Chauffeurs were lined up outside of the airport sporting "Low prices" and "Unbeatable rates" but Ulrich just walked. He'd been through worse physical trauma then walking though a city.

An hour and a half later Ulrich was staring up at the building with huge letters, "JEM" spelled out on the building.

Ulrich sighed and thought, "I wonder what's changed about him?." When he walked into the building, a desk woman looked up at him through eyes that seemed to penetrate his soul.

She looked up from her steel rimmed glasses and asked, "Can I help you." with a strong New Yorkie accent.

"Yes my name is Ulrich." he said very casually, "Damn it, should've called ahead." he thought.

But right when he thought she was going to tell him to leave, her eyes widened. "Uhh," she stuttered,"Mr. Belpois has you on the _special guest _list. Go on ahead." Ulrich seemed surprised, he didn't even think there was such a thing as a "special guest" list. But he was thankful to God there was one.

Two minutes and an eternity of an elevator ride later he got off on floor 160.

"This is ridiculous," he thought, "not enough money for the poor but when some rich kid wants to guild a 160 floor skyscraper, why not?"

His breath was taken away when he saw the big door leading to the room which housed the CEO of JEM, and butterflies seemed to dance in his stomach. Ulrich sighed, "This is it." Then he pushed open the doors to the well lit room, and met some old friends once again.

**Meanwhile **

5,000 miles away in Siberia, a bored guard sleeping on his post,with an AK-47 strapped around his waist, was awaken with a stutter.

The Sergeant in charge hit him in the gut with the butt of his rifle shouting, "Prosypat'sa!" or 'wake up' in English.

Surprised the guard awoke and with a quick snap of posture, saluted the man.

"Are the 'packages' safe?" The Sergeant asked with a thick Russian accent.

"Uhh, I would guess so sir, but I-"

"We don't pay you to guess!" the sergeant interrupted, "Now get in there and count stock!" Submissively, and with an angered glare fired back at the sergeant, the mercenary walked through the tunnels to count what was left of the valuables he had been hired to guard.

"Damned mercenaries," the sergeant thought, "pretty soon we'll be out of money to guard this place if we keep 'buying' guards."

Half an hour later the sergeant was still waiting for the man.

Impatiently he shouted, "Hey! naemnik! You better get back here and report your findings!" No answer.

The sergeant, pissed off at this guard's apparent stubbornness to follow orders, went into the dark, metal tunnels and made his way carefully. While walking, he studdently sensed the feeling of something following him.

So slowly, he pulled his rifle into his hands and turned around to surprise the bastard. But, no one was there. Confused, he turned around and kept walking until he came to the room where the objects that were apparently too valuable to guard with loyal Russian guards were being held. The room was surprisingly dark, and the light switch on the outside of the door was ripped out of its holder and thrown to the ground.

"Strange," he said to himself "no, not strange. The obvious signs of an intruder." Hastily he pulled out his rifle and cocked in a round.

He was about to go in the room when he heard rapid footsteps coming from inside. He peaked in and saw nothing but blackness.

Then the footsteps got louder, and louder, and louder. Until the mercenary ran into the room with a face whiter than the snow outside the bunker.

"What is the matter naemnik? You look like you've seen a ghost." Then with a great booming laugh the sergeant felt at ease.

"Th-, th-, th-" the private stuttered. "What? Did you not take count?" "Th-, the package..." the look on the privates face was one of intense shock and fright. His skin was white and his mouth was sucking in air with short, hyperventilating gasps. "The system," he stuttered, "it, it..."

"It _what_ private? Tell me!" Now the sergeant felt scared, more of what could be in the room than of the scared man standing in front of him. "Gh- ghost!" he shouted. Then he ran through the tunnels with the speed of eagles at his feet..

Confused the sergeant was going to turn around and leave when he felt something behind him. Cautiously he turned around, what he saw was as much terrible as it was beautiful. A glowing blue entity that looked much like smoke, except with a strange appearance of human-like qualities.

Aghast the sergeant took his rifle and fired two rounds into the strange beast, but they just went right past the damn thing. Then the entity engulfed him in the strange blueish smoke that it was made of. The guard was taken by surprise, he didn't get a chance to take in a gulp of air before the engulfment in the strange blue smoke.

Struggling, he tried and failed to escape the grasps of the beast. He couldn't keep this up forever, he knew that. But what else would he do? It would just stay there until he died? He tried holding his breath, but the strange smoke had a certain aroma to it, he tried to take in a breath, but all that filled his lungs were poisonous chemicals that killed him instantly.

_He was dead before he hit the floor._

**Meanwhile**

When Ulrich awoke he was confused, stiff, and weary. The bruise on his forehead hurt like a searing brand. And his back was stiff from the uncomfortable floor of the car he was in. He tried to recall what happened but all he could make up was the moment he was about to open the door.

Weary he tried to get up, but he sensed someone else in the back of the van. Quickly he turned around to face the man, but he was just as tired and scared as Ulrich was, and covered in dirt and bruises as if he put up a good fight before getting caught.

Ulrich was surprised at the turning of the vehicle, apparently the car was still in motion. How long had it been since he was captured? An hour, a day, a week? And as if he read his mind, the other man said, "You've been here for two days."

Surprised at the voice coming from the man, Ulrich looked at the man, "You look like you know what's going on here, care to elaborate?"

"We're being taken to a new prison, well new for me. Obviously you're going to your first." Ulrich replied, "How many prisons have you been to?"

"About three," the other said, "ya, I've been to my share of prisons and had my share of beatings. Pretty soon they're going to try to recruit you too."

Ulrich looked curious, "Recruited, what for?"

The other replied, "Something you've already had experience doing I'm sure."

The look in the man's eyes was familiar, his hair was blonde, shaggy, and dirty. The hoody he was wearing looked like it'd seen better days. It was worn, had holes on the elbows, and was ripped in some areas. It also had some crusted blood in multiple places with a faded symbol Ulrich couldn't make out. It looked in the shape of a bulls-eye, with two rings surrounding a single dot in the middle. It looked like the color used to be green, but now was just a faded grey with some specks of green attached to it.

"Have I met you from someplace?" Ulrich asked.

"Why yes you have, and you could also say that this little incident we have here is _Odd_."


	3. Chapter 2 Reunion P2

**Hello! This is yet another update of the early Afterlife series. This is part 2 of my revised series so enjoy the reading!**

**Afterlife Part 2**

Ulrich could not believe what he had just heard. The man sitting next to him in this tightly cramped van had just told him that his old childhood friend that he hadn't seen in nine years, was him himself. Ulrich's eyes widened.

With excitement in his voice he exclaimed, "Odd! oh my God I haven't seen you in years!"

Odd didn't look surprised, he simply put a weak smile on his face and said, "Ya, but not much of a reunion eh?"

Ulrich looked to the ceiling and sighed, with a relaxed smile he looked back at the man, and found his friend.

"How did you get captured? I mean, where did you go? What happened?" Ulrich was practically pouring out questions for his weary and fatigued friend to answer.

Odd replied, "All in good time Ulrich, and I suppose that you're wondering how you got here." Ulrich looked surprised, "How do you know how I got captured?"

Odd stared at the ground, "Because I'm the one who captured you."

_Odd looked around the building for anyone suspicious, his directer had told him to do only one thing, "Take him alive, or else you both die."_

"_Weird," Odd thought, "it rhymes."_

_Odd laughed to himself at his humorous wit._

_But now it was time to get serious, Odd felt what was in his backpack and smiled, "Won't this be a good friend reunion gift." he thought._

_Then he hopped in the elevator and sailed to the last floor where sure enough, there was his target, friend, and "ally"._

_He looked nervous, and was about to go through a big, cherry wood door. He opened the door surprisingly soundlessly, and looked confused._

_There was no one in the room, Odd knew that, and now he reached into his pocket inside of his jacket and pulled out his tranquilizer gun, "Sorry Ulrich, nothing personal." And then he fired. The silent thump of the gun gave off little recoil, so the dart immediately hit its target, right in the neck. Then he went limp._

"So you mean to tell me that you crept up behind me, pulled out a gun, and shot me in the neck?".

" It was just a tranquilizer gun, why did it hurt? You shouldn't have felt it either way." Odd's proud smile was hard to hide.

"And... why did you do that?"

"Well what would you have done, died or tranquilized your friend?".

Just then the car stopped, and they saw daylight come through the door.

The people that opened the door wore black suits and had concealed pistols in their jacket pockets. They wore sunglasses on their eyes and had wires running into their ears.

"Jeez who wanted us this badly, the secret service?" Ulrich thought. The men took out sacks and motioned for Ulrich and Odd to turn around. The next couple of minutes were filled with darkness and many many stumbles.

Half an hour later, the two men felt a cold rush of air and felt something flat and hard beneath their shoes. They were now inside, they knew that much. Then the bags were lifted from their heads.

The room they were in was like a hospital, dreary and boring. There were dreary couches and chairs with tables that had wilted flowers on them. The guards pushed them on when they slowed down and gripped their pistols in their pockets just in case. When they finally came to a door at the end of a hall they told them to stop and stay there.

They went in and left two guards to watch over them. What felt like an eternity later, they came out and told them to go on ahead inside. Odd looked over from poking at a fish tank and complied. When they walked into the room they were in complete shock and awe.

The moment they walked into the room they saw someone they never thought they would see again. Jeremy was sitting at a computer with his back to them typing rapidly into a computer. When a guard in a black suit came up to him and whispered something into his ear Jeremy stopped, listened, and turned around excitedly.

He practically sprinted the small distance between them and embraced both of them for the first time in years.

"Oh my GOD!" he shouted. "I thought you guys were dead!"

"Why would you think that Jer?" Odd said, with a look on his face he hadn't had in a long, long time. Happiness.

Jeremy was about to reply when a hand touched his shoulder and he looked down sadly. "I don't think we should tell them just yet J."

came a familiar feminine voice from behind him. When Jeremy stood to the side, Aileta, still with that short, pink hair, was standing.

"It's glad to see you guys again." she said. Odd practically jumped out of the building at that point.

Now _he _was the one going to hug Aileta and she accepted it gratefully. When they let go Aileta sighed, "There's a lot of things that have happened since you guys were gone. And there's a lot of events in your life that are parallel with ours."

Ulrich looked at her and said, "Like what? What's happened? Has Lyoko come back?"

"No," Aileta said, "but there has been a break through."

"What do you mean," Odd blurted out, "what's with all of the secrecy?"

Aileta gave him a look that was filled with stress, sadness, and long hours indoors.

"Let's just say history repeats itself." she said.


	4. Chapter 3 Reunion P3

**Afterlife Part 3**

Odd and Ulrich were confused, what was Aileta talking about "history repeats itself?" And why so much secrecy? Was X.A.N.A. back? If so then why don't they just tell them? Why are none of the questions being answered?

"Before we tell you guys whats going on we have to get the entire group together." Aileta said.

"But why," Odd replied, "why not tell us now? I mean, I doubt that you guys are going to let us go..."

"No, we're not." Jeremy interrupted.

"Exactly my point," Odd said, "so who are we going to tell?"

"All in good time Odd." Aileta said.

**Meanwhile**

A van pulls up to NYU, New York University, and three men get out. All of them are in black suits with concealed pistols containing tranquilizer darts and silencers.

"Sir, would you like to join us?" one of the men said to a man in the van.

"No," the man replied, "I'll talk to her once she arrives."

The man nodded and motioned for his men to follow him. Once they passed the van they lined in single file and made their way to the building towering in front of them. They looked to make sure no bystanders were around to see their entrance and checked the door knob, unlocked, just as the informant had said. They entered the Language division of NYU and made their way up a large flight of stairs until they came to floor five. Once they made it there they opened the door and went in. They walked down the hall swiftly and quietly, they could here people typing on their computers and the occasional cough. They walked to the third door on the left and stopped. Again they looked to see if anyone was in the halls or peaking out from inside their classrooms. They nodded to each other and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" a woman's voice shouted from inside the room.

"We came to one of your classes two days ago and would like to compare notes, may we come in?" one of the guards lied.

"I had no classes two days ago?" the woman replied, "you must be mistaken."

"No, we're not m'am, now please if you would unlock the door."

A bit of ruffling from inside the room and they could hear footsteps coming closer. She unlocked the door and looked confused once she saw the men.

"Is something wrong?" were the last words to come out of her mouth before one of the guards put a dart in her neck and put her out. They quickly picked up her body and with swift precision and speed. Made it out of the door and into the van.

"I suspect that there was no interruptions." the man in the van said.

"No sir," one said, "just a bit of a surprise."

"Now take us back to the building," William said, "Yumi will want to know why she was kidnapped."

**Back at the Facility**

"So what do we do until the hole group comes back?" Ulrich asked.

"Oh don't worry, I have recourses, the others will be here in three hours at the most. Until then I'm going to try and work on my... project." Jeremy turned around walked over to the supercomputer and began typing some more. Meanwhile Aileta went over to the side and through a door to another room. The door was guarded by another one of the black suited guards that eyed Ulrich from under the dark sunglasses he wore. Ulrich felt a chill run down his back as he looked at the man and quickly turned back to talk to Odd, who was talking to guard to try and squeeze some entertainment out of him.

"So what do you guys do here?" Odd asked him.

"Confidential." he replied.

"Who pays you?"

"Confidential."

"Are you from the FBI?"

"Confidential."

"What about the CIA?"

"Confidential."

"You don't talk much do you?"

"Confi-" the guard stopped, he didn't look very pleased at Odd's random questions and just stares at him.

"Hey Ulrich," he said, "come over here and look at this guy!"

"What Odd," Ulrich said, "you know that these guys are here to protect you. Leave the dude alone."

"Whaat? I'm just having-"

"GUYS!" Jeremy shouted, "THEY'RE HERE!"

"Jeez Einstein," Odd said, "you don't have to scream."

Ulrich was curious, "Who's here J, someone I know?"

"Oh you'll know them all right." Jeremy said, "I think you've already met one of them."

The door that they were waiting by opened and a guard came in holding a woman across his back like a sack of potatoes. Ulrich thought she looked kind of familiar, she had on sunglasses, and a purse was put next to her sleeping body when she was laid out on a couch by the wall.

"Hey," Ulrich said, "that's the girl from the airport."

:Jeremy looked confused, "Wait, you two were on the same flight?"

"Ya, she looked like she was in a hurry, she never stopped to talk to anyone and looked like a spoiled California girl." Ulrich looked at her curiously. His eyes searching for anything leading to her identity.

"Well I'll be," Jeremy said, "I would've thought that you'd have noticed who she was."

The guard that brought her in took off the sunglasses and stepped back. Ulrich looked back closely, and then stepped back astonished. They women laid out on the couch was in fact the woman that Ulrich had not gone a day without thinking of. The woman who had sat down next to her and the woman who had loved him in a life long forgotten. Yumi was passed out and looked like she was sleeping peacefully.

Shocked was an understatement, the feeling Ulrich felt was a mixture of things, love, amazement, and (something that means "the wish that you did something but didn't"). He didn't even know what to say, he just stood there with his mouth open, wondering what had happened to her since the separation. Then he felt the need for revenge, he wanted to know who could have harmed her, who could have done this thing. All of this and more was going through his mind when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey Ulrich," the voice said, "it's been a long time."

He turned his head to see the man he had felt jealousy, hate, and pity for once. He saw William, and knew he was responsible. Ulrich didn't know what to do, so he just sat there, staring with a glare in his eyes that gave a sense of hostility. He only managed to get a few words out.

"William?" he said, "why-, how-, when did-."

"She's not in pain Ulrich," he said, "she's simply been injected with a powerful sedative, she should wake up in about 24 hours."

But before Ulrich could say anything else he heard Jeremy at the front of the room.

Jeremy cleared his throat, "Um, attention, attention everyone. I know this isn't really the time but I promised that I was going to tell you guys what's been going on when everyone was gathered together so... well... here it goes."


	5. Chapter 4 Revelation

**Afterlife Part 4**

"Could all the guards please leave, I would like this to be done in private." Jeremy said, he was about to reveal all that had gone on. When all the guards left the area Jeremy sighed, rubbed his head through his hair, and looked towards the crowd.

"As you all know, X.A.N.A. was defeated many years ago, and that during our campaign against him we had highs, and lows. Well X.A.N.A. had highs and lows too, in fact we're beginning to think that he knew he was going to lose. So let's look at this logically. Imagine you're in a battle. Now think, the enemy is advancing and more then half of your supplies are wasted. What do you do?"

The room was silent, everyone thought that it was a rhetorical question and figured they didn't have to answer.

"I'll tell you what you do," Jeremy continued, "you make a last ditch effort to get out of the situation. But what if you can't? What if you're rooted to the ground and all of your exits are cut off. Then what do you do?"

The room was eerily quiet as everyone waited to hear what he had to say.

"Well," Jeremy continued once more, "you do the next best thing, you make sure that your legacy can be continued, you make sure that even if you die your campaign can keep going. And that's what X.A.N.A. did. If you remember, there were periods where he attacked, and lengthy periods of time in which he simply waited. Now you wonder, 'Wasn't he simply planning? Wasn't he just gathering resources to battle the enemy?' well let me say that X.A.N.A. had all the resources, all the power, all of the processes it took to think and plan an attack in seconds. So why did he wait? Why did he slumber, sleep, and store energy until the next attack?"

Everyone in the room was on edge about what he was going to say next. Everyone was thinking about the possibilities of X.A.N.A. surviving and at this very moment was watching them. Just peaking in through the security cameras and the audio feeds to see what they were all talking about.

"Well X.A.N.A. wasn't planning, he was creating, he was crafting a device so similar to him that it might as well be him. During the waiting period, X.A.N.A. was building up enough energy to copy himself into a form like his so that he could simply activate it at the last second if ever the need arises so that he made sure we would suffer. Over ten years, X.A.N.A. has been storing power in his cells, and creating a creation that all would eventually see. X.A.N.A. has created X.A.N.A. 2.0."

The room felt dreary as everyone heard the news, X.A.N.A. was back, or might as well be back, and was in a new form. Jeremy looked somber.

"We know we don't have much time, we already have confirmation on his taking over of Lyoko. I'm sorry to say that it has been utterly destroyed. I'm sorry, but Franz Hopper has no hope of returning."

Aileta shed a tear that crawled down her face and into the floor. She had the look of someone who had already heard the news but didn't have the strength to hold back.

"But why doesn't he just attack Kadic? Why hasn't it been all over the news that 'Kadic Schools' had been attacked by an unknown force?' what is he doing?"

"Remember, he created a new A.I., this A.I. has probably been active for only a couple of weeks. It's still working out its kinks and finding objectives to complete." Jeremy said.

"But there is still hope," Jeremy had the look of a determined leader who was about to give the news of a come-back, "I have created something as well. Something that can give us the possibility of a return. If everyone would please follow me."

Jeremy lead the way through a door to the right that Aileta had gone through before and everyone followed him. Everyone except William went with him, William had already seen it hundreds of times and someone needed to watch Yumi.

They walked through a tunnel that felt like it went down through the earth and continued on for miles. But finally they came to a tubular elevator that had glass completely covering the outside of it. Everyone piled into the machine (about the size of the original elevator, just circular) and Jeremy pressed a button on the wall. When he did, everyone felt the rush of the elevator going down very swiftly. The ride lasted about 30 seconds, adding to the feeling of how deep in the ground the system is. After they arrived a big loud _bzzzz!_ noise came from the ceiling.

When it opened everyone except for Aileta and Jeremy was amazed. The room was dome shaped, with tubular ports on the opposite side of the room and a big supercomputer in the center, the hologram system was surrounding the computer and the light on the computer was blinking green. Ulrich practically ran over to the tubes and looked at them like he was observing something that God's had wrought from the metal of stars in the core of the Earth.

"Jeremy, did you... create a new Lyoko?" Ulrich looked at Jeremy like he was a God who had created him and all in the room.

"Yes, I call it Devlon." Jeremy said.

"Oh my God!" Odd chimed in, "Do I still get to be a purple cat suited warrior!"

"You can be whatever you want to be," Jeremy said, "I've augmented the visual system to allow you to be what ever you want to be. Just tell me."

Ulrich still had his jaw dropped, starring at the tubes that looked similar to those used in the factory. They had a metallic sheen and were so shiny that you could practically see yourself on it.

"Ulrich," William came into the room, he didn't seem too surprised at the tubes, he'd already seen them many times before, "Yumi's awake."

Ulrich looked at him, he felt like he was in a dream, that any minute now he would wake up in his dorm, in his old room with Odd sleeping noisily in the bed next to him, and Kiwi sleeping even louder then him. But then he was brought back to reality, and knew who he had to confront.

**Meanwhile**

_Location: Pentagon_

_Time: 0400 hours_

_Date: 8/15/2016_

A lone guard was walking through the quiet halls of the Pentagon, bored out of his mind.

"Nothing ever happens here," he thought, "I thought a job like his would be adventurous. 'Night Guard of the Pentagon**'** ya right."

He went along his regular route and entered the server room. This room was used in the mid 20th century to house the huge dinosaur computers that took up an entire room and could add 2+2 in a swift 2 minutes. This part of the job used to make him the most excited, he had always been interested in computers and technology and now he was guarding some of the oldest. He continued walking and decided to go back to the computer room again. Once he entered he observed the giant machines once again and went between the different aisles the machines created. Once he went through them again, he sighed.

"No matter how many times I go through those hunks of metal I'll never actually get a chance to do anything!" he thought to himself.

Just then he heard something, a big crash of metal falling, like a child playing with pots & pans in his mother's kitchen. He was greatly startled by the noise, and didn't know what to do once he got himself together.

"Oh, what the hell." he thought as he ran in the direction of the noise. Once he got to the door that led into the room with the crashing noise, almost deafening this near, he stopped. He didn't know if this was Dave playing a trick on him or a terrorists trying to start a trap.

Frightened out of his wits he cried out, "Dave... Dave Shoughbert! If that's you than you better be playing a joke!" just than, the noise stopped and he heard one last noise of a piece of metal clattering to the floor.

Shaking, he said, "Uhh, I'm coming in there Dave!"

Then he heard a reply coming from the room, "OK man, but make it quick. I'm checking the computer for bugs."

The guard was relieved, it was just Dave checking for bugs. Walking into the room, he was confronted by Dave, except... something was wrong.

"Dave are you OK?" the guard asked, "You look... translucent?" Dave did, you could sort of see things that were behind him in a bluish tint that made everything look... strange. Just then something happened.

As soon as he let his guard down, the "Dave" disappeared into a blue smoke that engulfed the guard in its poisonous gasses. The guard couldn't move, he couldn't think, he couldn't see, he could only feel the tingling sensation of the gasses moving across his skin. Then, he decided to take a breath...


	6. Chapter 5 Test Drive P1

**Afterlife Part 5**

Ulrich walked to the end of the room and the elevator door opened as if by magic. He then went into the elevator with William following right behind him. When he entered he pushed the button on the wall and felt the _swoosh_ of the elevator as it went up with great velocity.

When it finally hit the bottom, Ulrich's heart was racing, "Will she still be the same? Will she be different? Will she feel the same?"

Ulrich didn't get a chance to consider these answers when the door opened, and he felt his legs move, but didn't feel like he moved them, he felt himself breathe, but didn't think he willed himself to. He felt like his heart was going to explode from overwork. Then he went into the hall, and into the room.

Yumi was sitting on the couch she had been lain in reading through a magazine. She looked up from her magazine and for second looked like she was going to go back to her reading when she stopped, wide eyed, and stared at Ulrich for a few seconds. Then she put the magazine down, and slowly got up on her feet.

"Ulrich?" she asked.

"Yumi." Ulrich said.

"Where are we, what's happening, are we going to-"

"Stop. We're not going to die, but we have some info that might be useful to your questions."

"Alright." she looked shocked, her face in a constant state of curiosity.

"Would you follow me Yumi?" Ulrich asked.

She simply nodded her head and they went off to the elevator. William simply sat there looking at the spot where Yumi was sitting. Yumi and Ulrich didn't look back at him, they simply got into the elevator and swished down the tube. When they got to the bottom Jeremy greeted Yumi with a hug and asked her how she was doing.

"Fine, just... confused." Yumi said.

"Great, now... if you would come with me please." Jeremy lead Yumi through the door that lead into the room filled with materialization technology.

Odd simply sat there eating an apple and laying down in a couch. He looked rather satisfied with his eyes closed. Ulrich went up to him and sat down in the chair to the left of him.

"Hey Ulrich," Odd said, "I see you're in a bit of shock."

"What do you think?" Ulrich replied, "I just met the woman I haven't seen in 9 years, and have thought about everyday since."

"Well suits you, I've been in prison for 3 years."

"Come to think of it, why were you in prison?"

Odd just kept on eating his apple and looking at the ceiling, smiling.

"You've never been to a prison have you?" Ulrich asked.

"Did you just say Odd's been in prison?" Aelita said as she came in through the facility room.

"Well ya, he said he's been in three." Ulrich said.

Aelita simply stood there with her hand to her mouth trying not to laugh. Starring at Odd with a look on her face that would've made X.A.N.A. fall down laughing.

"If he goes to prison, I'll go to the window and throw myself down."

"Wait... you've never been to prison?" Ulrich said as he looked over at Odd.

"What do you expect, I've got a crazy ego." he said, smiling, eating his apple, looking at the ceiling.

Ulrich just stared at him with his jaw open, "Is _anything _I know here true?"

"I don't know," Aelita said, giggling, "why don't you ask Jeremy."

Just then Jeremy came into the room, he was walking rather quickly with a grin on his face.

"Okay guys!" he shouted, "Time for a test drive!"

Aelita practically jumped into the ceiling with excitement. Everyone walked into the V.R. room with Yumi still in the room, looking rather sad and staring up at the materialization tubes. There were six tubes, one for everyone and one extra.

"Wait a sec," Odd said, "why are there _six _tubes, I thought Jer couldn't go into Lyoko?"

"First of all Odd, it's not Lyoko." Jeremy replied, "Second of all, things have changed since Lyoko, I've been into DEVLON many many times since its creation. Which by the way took almost all of the 9 years to create."

"DEVLON? Why not call it something else? How about... Awesome!" Odd said looking at Jeremy.

"That's stupid," Ulrch said, "what about DATUM."

"DATUM," Jeremy said stroking his chin and thinking deeply, "I guess that could do until I think of a real name for it."

"Great, now please! Let's go for a test drive!" Aelita said looking at Jeremy, longing to visit the familiar and friendly feeling.

"Fine fine," Jeremy said, "but first I've got to tell you guys something."

Everyone in the room looked at him with an annoyed look on their faces.

"Look, I won't keep you long okay." Jeremy continued, "But first I've got to tell you guys that I've improved it since Lyoko, I think I've added about five hundred extra terabytes to the system. So I've been able to add certain things."

"Like what?" Yumi's face looked a lot brighter than it had a few minutes ago.

"I've been able to add many things, training grounds, A.I.s, and I've even added extra weapon and environment systems."

"Hold it there Einstein." Odd said, "You've added _A.I.s!_"

"Why yes," Jeremy continued, "like NPC's if you want to call them that. I've been able to program 'people' into the system so that you can fight 'living things' not just robots with primitive attack programs. They think, walk, talk, look, and act like humans. So if you meet Maya, tell her I said hey."

Just then the tubes at the end of the room opened with a hiss, and everyone in the building felt like they were going to Shangri-la.

"All aboard DATUM." Jeremy said as he went to the center of the room to the super computer. The super computer was a screen still the size of Lyoko's but attached to a big device that went from the monitor to the ceiling, around the supercomputer was an octagonal ring that pulled up holograms of DATUM's current hum of the machine was a little high pitched which gave the room a high spirited, friendly feel to it. Besides the center atraction, the room was in a dome shape with elongated ceiling and floor. The vitalization machines were evenly spaced and took up the far wall of the room.

"I think I'm going to start you all off on a fault-mission." he said as he typed some things onto the computer.

The supercomputer Jeremy was on pulled up a window showing Ulrich's face, "Fault-mission? What's that?" he asked.

"It's like a real mission, except with harmless training dummies." Jeremy replied,.

"Now everyone buckle up." he said as he hit enter.


	7. Chapter 6 Test Drive P2

**If you'll notice I kind of posted Part 6 and then took it away. That's because I was impatient with the BETA reader and went ahead and posted the story anyway and for that I'm sorry. But hey, look on the bright side, now it's ten times as better then the original!**

**Thanks to MoonlitxAngel and Starke for the reviews and good comments.**

**And everyone give an extra special thanks to Starke for the idea of making flashbacks.**

**And also I'd like to thank alibi2014 for the BETA reading.**

**Now... **_**READ ON!**_

**Afterlife Part 6**

_Region: Tundra_

_Time: 1200 hours_

The base was simply a concrete rectangular prism with concrete steps leading down to a helicopter pad. Multiple guards were surrounding the frozen cement brick which housed the one thing needed: the hostage.

Code named package, she was approximately 28 years old with purple hair that ran down to her shoulders. She had a special purple metal suit that showed her arms: in places the paint had been scratched off. The leggings went down to her knee caps and she wore purple shoes that made her look like she didn't plan for cold weather.

A guard was waking his post on the roof of the cement building and had a special ops configured sniper rifle in his hands. It was outfitted with a standard 34x zoom scope and a suppressing muzzle that reduces the flash, sound, and smoke that came out of a discharged round. He had a face mask that covered everything but his eyes and even those were covered by special protection goggles.

He was admiring the mountainous view from his location when he thought that he saw something. A flash of reflected light from somewhere at the top of the closest mountain. He got up from his chair and pulled up his rifle to his eyes.

Seeing nothing but the mountains and its multiple cousins that ran in the mountain chain, he was dissatisfied from his findings he simply blamed it on the boredom and kept watching. Seconds later a bullet flew through his skull. The other guards didn't hear a sound.

"This is Samurai, repeat this is Samurai. Anyone copy?"

"This is Leo, all clear on my end."

"Angel has no hostiles in her area. Over."

"What about Ninja? Has anyone seen her?" Samurai asked.

"Haven't heard from her since deployment." Leo replied, "But, let's just assume the worst and move on."

"Thanks for your concern, guys," Ninja finally said, "I was really focused on this one shot."

"That was you?" Leo asked, "Why didn't we codename you Sharpshooter?"

"Shut up Odd," Yumi replied, "Ninja was the closest thing to my old persona."

"Samurai here, let's just focus on our current objective." Ulrich commanded, "We need to get the package and get out."

"Okay but, uh, quick question." Odd started, "How do we get to the other side, cause, you know we've got to get off this mountain."

"We've been over this Leo, we'll climb up the side once we get to the bottom of the mountain." Ulrich replied,

"But won't that take, like, hours?" Odd asked.

"Yes, yes it will." Ulrich replied.

"Damn it." Odd muttered under his breath.

It was a long and lengthy process, full of countless checks and go-aheads. But they finally made it to the bottom. The bottom was flat and scarcely dotted with small shrubs, but was otherwise lifeless and white with snow that simply frosted the ground with fine flakes.

"Samurai here, everyone regroup at the foot of the mountain, beside the large boulder."

"The whole thing is a boulder!" Odd said.

"Leo... the smaller one at the bottom."

"Oh, thanks Sami."

"It's Samurai Odd, God your such a prick." Ulrich replied.

Once they all regrouped, they realized that they haven't gotten a good look at each other's weapons and equipment.

Odd was in a variation of his old cat suit, with longer claws made of a strange golden-bronze looking metal, and were sharper than a chainsaw. He had these metal devices that shot virtual arrows which deteriorated once they hit a target. He had on a tundra camo heavy jacket with a crossbow on his back beside a quiver of arrows.

Ulrich had a faded green strip of cloth tied around his head and a special operations equipped sniper rifle on his back. He had a tundra camo heavy jacket that had fur lining the hood, and night vision binoculars around his neck. He also had a silenced shot gun on his back and a holstered side arm in case of emergencies. He had black non-reflective hiking boots that had sharp metal pieces that made great ice picking shoes.

Aelita also had a tundra camo jacket, she still had her short pick hair and had strange purple eyes that shimmered near light. She had strange devices in the palms of her hands and had black hiking boots on.

Yumi had a black heavy jacket that had many pockets on the outside as well as on the inside that housed anything from pistols, to grenades, to throwing stars. Her hair was tied back in a way that would let her see without it getting in the way of her vision.

Since everyone was gathered they made sure to check with "Backdrop" the part of the system that had all the information about the situation gathered in real time. It reveals the location of hostile A.I.s as well as other DATUM users that were in the world. But just in case that failed they had William in the mountains monitoring everything he could from his angle.

"Widower, do you read?" Ulrich said in his intercom.

"Loud and clear, Samurai, and you should really get a knew name, how about Knight?"

"Oh just forget about the name already, do you see anything interesting? Are we okay for phase 2?"

"Copy that you are clear, proceed with caution and I'll fill you in if you need to stop for sec and let a guard pass. If measures get drastic I have my trusty M40 right here."

"Copy that Widower, over and out." Ulrich said as he put the radio back into one of his pouches on the utility belt around his waist.

"So who goes first?" Yumi asked the rest of the group.

"I will!" Odd practically shouted as he whipped out his claws and starts to climb like a cat, making it up to the first ledge with ease.

"Odd, just wait for us a little, okay?" Ulrich said as he took out his ice picks from his belt.

"Just try to keep up, slow pokes!" Odd shouted back as he started up the mountain again, eventually going out of sight.

Everyone took out their picks except Aelita, who just stood there looking at the mountains.

"You coming Aelita?" Yumi asked as she swung the pick into the ice to check its stability.

She looked like she just came out of a daze, "Oh, what? Oh ya, sure."

She looked at the mountain above her and simply willed herself up, pink lights came out of the bottom of her boots that left a trail of pink specks wherever she went. She flew to the top very swiftly and before she knew it she was level with Odd.

"Some people get all the luck." Ulrich said to himself as he threw the pick into the mountain.

"At least we're alone for a while." Yumi said as she looked up at Ulrich with a charming look in her eyes.

William was looking at them both through his sniper scope and scowled to himself, cursing Ulrich in his mind.

Then seemingly out of nowhere a voice entered Ulrich's head, "You doing okay Ulrich?" Jeremy asked from his nice cozy computer room.

"Yeah, just fine ,Jer." he said with a grunt as he drove his pick into the giant rock again and again.

"But I've been wondering, why did you go through such drastic measures to get me to the facility I'm in now?" Ulrich asked, again grunting as he plunged the pick into the mountain.

"My office is bugged," Jeremy replied, his feet resting on the super computer keyboard, "so many other companies are jealous of my reputation that they're trying to get in on my new ideas for products, they even bribe my workers more than I pay them! It's ridiculous."

Ulrich was panting through Jeremy's earpiece, and with each swing of his pick he gave a short grunt. "That's okay ,J, I forgive you. But why did you put me in the back of a delivery truck?"

"Because a limo would draw too much attention and I don't think you want to be in the trunk of a cab. I wanted you to at least be able to stretch out and stand a bit. And if you're wondering about Odd's blood stained, tattered clothes. It's because he went out for a walk one day and apparently one of my rivals is getting dirty with the competition."

Ulrich didn't reply this time. He was deep in thought, thinking of a time when he wasn't here, when he was free to choose, and probably made one of the best choices of his life,before of course he went to JEM.

_Location: France_

_Time: 0600 hours_

Ulrich was sitting in a chair outside of a local cafe that was bustling with people. He was sipping a latte and stirring it nervously around on the mug's plate. The cafe he was at had short black fences in elegant curves and patterns surrounding the outdoor customer area. It was just in front of an army recruitment center that seemed empty, except for one lone recruiter that could faintly be seen in the right display window sitting in front of a computer, no doubt playing solitaire out of boredom.

Ulrich was debating with himself whether to go over there and sign up to become one of the ranks. Half of his mind said yes, and the other half said to wait 'till he was older. But Ulrich knew that the whole reason he wanted to go in was because he had a thirst for excitement. He missed the old days where he saved the world and get the girl. He knew he wouldn't get all that just from joining the Army, but he wanted to do something.

Ulrich finally made up his mind. He stood up, walked out of the cafe, and went into the recruitment office.

"Ulrich? Ulrich are you there?" Jeremy's voice came through his mind as he was sitting on a ledge after climbing.

"Uh, what? Oh ya, ya I'm here. Just, I dunno. I just went... blank."

"K but just remember, you've got a mission to complete."

"Some fault-mission." Ulrich muttered under his breath, knowing Jeremy could hear him.

One he finally got to the top and onto a concrete platform, he was surprised by how human and life-like it was. The concrete looked uneven and rough, with two cases of stairs paralleling each other going up one side of the platform. it was otherwise bare, and there was no sign of any hostiles in the area.

With caution, Ulrich tried to contact William, "Widower do you read? I repeat, Widower: do you copy?"

"This is Widower, I copy. Do you need some intel?"

"That's correct, any guards rolling this way?"

"That's a negative, Samurai, you are clear to proceed. But go with caution, my angle doesn't give me an exact bird's eye view of everything."

"Copy, over and out. Requesting radio silence until mission completion."

"Copy Ulrich, but when will I know when you have her?"

"Oh you'll know William, you'll know." Ulrich tucked his radio into his belt and motioned for everyone else to move up.

The group went up the stairs and checked their sides. Ulrich pulled out his shotgun and aimed down his sights as he went. They got to the door that let to the building and lined up around it. After they exchanged nods, Ulrich kicked the door down and quickly went back to cover before gun fire flew through the open door. The group was surprised at the sudden action and felt at home amid the chaos. Then, the group ran into the room, guns blazing. There was one guard by the door that fell like a brick after the first shot, another was on the far wall by a window. One other was to the right of the room and almost managed a shot at Aelita, but before he could pull the trigger, the devices inside her arms began to glow, and a blue orb shot out at the enemy. He dissolved to nothingness on impact.

The only guard left pulled out a pistol and grabbed Maya. He had his hand around her mouth so she couldn't say anything, but her face said it all. The guard's hand was shaking from nervousness and he started to look around at the surrounding group. He was especially scared at the apparent leader, with the shotgun and a strip of cloth around his head.

The guard was looking towards the door behind the group and motioning for the others to move out of the way so he could make a get away for the chopper that was waiting.

The others simply sat there with their weapons drawn and stared at the guard. The guard continued shaking but eventually regained control and straightened the gun at the hostage. But before he could pull the trigger, a bullet whizzed through his head from the window behind him.

The radio on Ulrich's belt started to buzz. When Ulrich picked it up William came through, his voice laden with pride.

"Guess it's a good thing you guys have me." he said.

"Ya, sure." Ulrich said, he was studying Maya and looking for any signs of injury.

"Are you okay?" Ulrich asked her.

"Yeah I'm fine," she said with a smile, "this is simply a fault-mission, no harm is supposed to be done to anyone in the system. And the A.I.s are expendable." Maya had these green-hazel eyes dotted with an octagon iris.

Ulrich was thinking deeply about the situation. If we could turn humans into programs and programs into human. Than technically we could create humans. We could manufacture living people who think, act, feel, and breathe. We could even create super-soldiers if we got the code right.

"Jeremy?"

"Ya Ulrich." Jeremy responsed, "There a problem?"

"These programs, NPCs. Can we... take them into the real world?"

"I've tried, Ulrich... it only kills the program and overloads the system. The last time I tried it it took me eight months to get the system up and running again and another six to write another program. It's useless. Sorry."

"That's okay Jer." Ulrich responded, "It was worth the breath to ask the question."

But Ulrich's mind was still turning. Thinking of the possibilities of creating people. People that could do what ever you wanted them to do. Act like you wanted them to act. The possibilities were endless.

_No,_ he thought, _it's too much power for one person._

Just then Jeremy came through again, "Okay guys good run. I'm going to bring you back to Earth now."

"Beam me up Spock." Odd said with a grin on his face.

"K, just hold on a sec."

Just then Odd felt funny, his skin was turning into blue virtual outlines and then simply evaporating into thin air. Pretty soon the whole group was gone, leaving no one but Maya standing there, who then walked off to build some more environments.


	8. Chapter 7 Afterwards

**Afterlife Part 7**

When Odd opened his eyes he was in a dark, almost pitch black tube. The walls felt like polished steel, or some other metal. Odd looked around for any sign of an exit, and then he remembered the battle, the fault-mission, and Maya.

Just then the tube opened with a hiss and Odd saw that he was in the facility. He saw the rest of the group circled around the supercomputer and staring at the holograms, talking to each other, with the hum of machinery giving the room a lively feel.

"Hey Jeremy!" Odd said as he walked out. "Why don't we roll in some drinks! I think we deserve a victory party."

"No Odd, we've been over this, the last time you came in here with drinks you spilled it all out on one of the hologram devices and nearly destroyed it. You're damn well lucky that you didn't spill it on the supercomputer." Jeremy said.

"Okay okay." Odd said backing to the right side where Ulrich was talking with Yumi. "I'll just go into the lobby and have my own party."

Odd walked passed Ulrich, who looked at him with a smile on his face, "You still got that dumb old humorous spark in you Odd, hey do me a favor. Never loose it."

Odd just nodded back at him and kept walking into the hall.

When Odd got to the lobby he walked up to a mini fridge and took out a beer. After opening it and drinking a hearty gulp, he felt at ease.

"Hey Odd." Ulrich said.

"Oh hey Ulrich." Odd replied.

"Nice job back on DATUM, it really feels like old times." Ulrich said.

"Yeah, you know Jeremie really worked hard on the system. He tried to make it as like to Lyoko as you could get, he's put countless hours into making it."

"Yeah, he sure is persistent. Hey, I'm hungry, I'm gonna go see where we are and if I can get something to eat."

"Hey I'll go with you." Odd said after gulping down the last drop of his drink and throwing it into the nearest trash bin, "I know this great sup sandwich place. They have the _best_ bacon, sausage, and beef sandwiches. I thoroughly recommend it."

"What, bacon, sausage, and beef, you not get enough meat in your diet already?"

"Hey, DATUM can really make a man hungry."

"But you're _always_ hungry." Ulrich put out with a laugh.

Odd just laughed with him and felt like there had been almost no time between when they departed and now. And for some reason Odd thought it all too familiar.

The entire group was sitting together in a booth watching Odd pig out on a meatball sandwich before moving on to another one. The group was laughing at Odd's hunger and cracking jokes about the good times back in Kadic. But out of all the jokes they made the best ones seemed to be about Jim and Sissy.

"And remember the time Sissy followed us to the factory and caught us when we were going into the sewer. We knew we would just go back in time afterwards so naturally we figured we'd just let her come with us. I'll never forget the look on her face when we got into the sewer." Ulrich said, followed by a rousing chorus of laughter from the group that turned heads and forged smiles.

After everyone was done with their laughing fit they all nibbled on bread and sipped on their drinks to calm down.

The group was sitting in the exact seats they would've taken in Kadic. Mostly because it just felt natural, but either way they were in the happiest mood they had been in in years.

When the group was finished, Jeremy went up to the clerk to pay and Ulrich and Yumi walked out together, talking and making up for the lost times. They still couldn't believe that they were on the same flight and still cracked jokes about that here and there.

Odd was deep in thought, still sitting in his booth and staring out of the window at Ulrich. Feeling a little jealousy come on him, Odd quickly looked away and tried to think of something else, but all he could think of was a time past, when he had met the most amazing woman he had ever laid eyes on, and felt a feeling he had never truly felt...

_Location: New York_

_Time: 0900 hours_

It was Christmas season in New York and Odd was late, again. He was supposed to have a meeting with Jeremy at the facility, securely and secretly held under ground in a rundown Brooklyn apartment. Odd was running down the bustling New York sidewalk quickly, narrowly missing people going by and almost running into a small tree planted in the side walk. Odd was dressed in a purple shirt that had sleeves that went down to his wrists and black cargo pants with big pockets on the sides of his thigh.

He was about to run around a block when he saw something, a woman coming out of a shop with many, many presents in her arms. So many in fact that she dropped them, all of them out into the side walk she was on. Odd was curious about this sight and went over to help her with the wrapped gifts. He ran over to her and picked up a couple of gifts from the floor and was going to give them back to her when he had a thought.

"Do you live far from here?" he asked, surprised at the words that came out of his mouth.

"Oh no just across the street." she replied with a smile.

She had dirty blonde hair and green colored eyes that seemed so kind and gentle. She was wearing a beige unzipped coat that showed a black shirt under it. She had a dashing smile that could take your breathe away, and for Odd it did just that.

"Uh, I'm Odd." were the only words he managed to get out of his mouth.

"I'm Delilah, nice to meet you." the sweet words were like a drug to Odd, and he only wanted more.

"So, looks like you've bought a lot of presents. Do you have family coming for the weekend?" Odd asked, hoping she would reply with more than just "yes" or "no."

"Yes, my entire extended family is coming over, well except for my uncle." she replied, with a down ward glance and a grim smile on her face at the last part.

"Why isn't your uncle going?" Odd asked.

"He's... on vacation."

"Oh..." Odd got the message.

"So do you live here? Or are you just another one of the thousands of tourists?" Odd asked, with a bit of his classic humor coming out of the melting pot.

"Oh no, I'm only staying until I can get a hit on my career."

"Oh really, what field do you work in?"

"Well, I'm kind of a technician you could say. I've been working on computers for a couple of years. Starting a business here, trying to get a loan for another."

"Oh really, well where I work we work with computers. We're really successful, in fact we're developing a new type of computer that can potentially run off of solar power." Odd added, with some pride sprinkled into his words.

"Oh cool, what's it called?" she asked.

"Well we're still brainstorming names, but the one that seems to be winning now it _Solex._"

"Oh cool, hey you're not hiring are you?" she asked with a laugh.

"Oh ya, ya I think you could definitely get a job. What do you specialize in? We're in need of some hard-drive repairmen at the moment, but some repairwomen would be just fine." Odd said, getting a laugh out of her and a laugh from himself.

"Ya that's actually my field, could you lead me to your place after we drop off the presents?" Delilah asked.

"Sure, sure no problem." nervously checked his watch, he was already five minutes late, and if he was later than ten he didn't know how much of a cow Jeremy would throw once he finally got to JEM.

They quickly crossed the street and walked about ten meters around another block to a gate that lead to an apartment complex.

Delilah walked up to an intercom on the right side of the black metal gate and pressed a red button on the bottom.

A voice came through that asked, "Password and room number please."

Delilah held the button and said into the speaker, "Kazinga, and room number 242 building C."

"Welcome back D, all you had to do was talk and I would recognize your voice." the guard on the intercom replied with a slight perkiness in his voice.

"Just want to make it official." she said as she turned back to Odd and winked.

"Come on in." the intercom buzzed and the gate opened with a hum.

Odd snapped out of his thoughts to find himself alone in the diner with only Ulrich, who was staring out the window sipping his drink.

Odd sat up and rubbed his eyes, "Oh God," he said wearily, "how long was I out?"

"Oh not long, the others left about five minutes ago. We didn't want to wake you so I stayed back."

"Oh, well, lets get back. I want to get back in DATUM."

Ulrich and Odd walked out of the restaurant and up to the sidewalk. They were about to walk across the street when both of their cell phones rang. They looked at each other and Odd nodded.

Ulrich took out his phone and flipped it open. He started to say hello, stopped, muttered an okay and then put the phone back in his pocket.

"Ulrich, is it DATUM?"

Ulrich nodded.

"Come on, I know a shortcut.

And they ran with the wind on their heels.


	9. Chapter 8 Practice P1

**Afterlife Part 8**

_Location: Middle of the Atlantic_

_Time: 1200 hours_

Flight 637 was making excellent time. The Boeing 747 was cruising at 870 mph, giving the flight a nice feeling of speed and the children on board the biggest moment of their lives. Cpt. DeMeray was piloting the vessel and looking at the GPS with a smile. His copilot, Pvt. Christian, was looking at a magazine, bored.

DeMeray looked at the copilot, only 23 years old, and asked, "Son, why did you sign up for this job?"

The Private kept looking at his magazine and replied, "Parents. They hate me and I hate them. If I'd a stayed I'm sure I'd be knee deep in lectures wondering why I didn't leave. But what about you, boss? You haven't said a word to me since we started this flight and now you're all of a sudden curious. What made you ask that question?"

"Just curious." the captain replied with a smile.

The plane was cruising nicely and there wasn't a cloud in the big blue sky when a bit of turbulence hit. Passengers hung on to their seats with wide eyes, looking out at the wing to see in the engines were okay.

A beep came onto the intercom and the captain's voice came on, "Sorry about that folks, but we should be clear of turbulence now and continue until we reach France in about 12-"

Just then another round of turbulence hit and the captain was shaken around in his seatbelt.

When he finally regained control of himself he reached over and pressed the "Fasten Seatbelts" button.

"Attention passengers please put on your seatbelts until we are clear of this turbulence."

Then came yet another round of devastating turbulence, a blood curdling scream came from the flight attendants' quarters, people were clutching their seat belts, a baby screamed in the rear, overhead luggage bins were popping open.

A flight attendant came out from behind the curtain and with a scream ran into the coach section of the flight.

Another attendant came out from behind the curtain and shouted, "Is anyone here a doctor?" and then with a scream was pulled back behind the curtain, her screams were instantly silenced. Passengers were and screaming rocked the plane, and the pilot came through the curtains, blood soaking his white uniform. He had a slight blue haze in his body and seemed to be floating a few inches. The plane then plummeted into the ocean, erupting a giant splash.

Odd and Ulrich were out of breath when they finally made it to the facility. Jeremy was on the supercomputer typing swiftly, his eyes glued to the screen.

Odd came up to him and said, "Hey Einstein, jeez, you sure made us run. What's the problem?"

Jeremy took a remote from the chair arm to his right and without saying a word, pointed it to the side wall and pressed the on button.

Then a television came out of the wall, displaying a news channel, "This just in, flight 637 has just crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, no word yet on how this incident occurred, but from the camera on the first response helicopters, no survivors have been found."

"So what, what do we care about a plane crash?" Ulrich asked.

"Odd, do you mind explaining?" Jeremy asked Odd with a sad look on his face.

"Sure Jer, hold on a sec."

Odd motioned for Ulrich to follow him and took him into the lobby.

After they sat down Odd looked at him and said, "Do you remember when you first heard about what X.A.N.A. did? About how he copied himself?"

"Yeah, what did he attack Kadic?" Ulrich asked with a start.

"No, no he didn't do that. But he might have done something like it."

"What, did he attack?"

"Well, let's see where to start? Ah, well first he attacked Lyoko, but when Jeremy got the alert we knew it was too late. Every single tower in Lyoko was activated, even some that we didn't know existed. So we waited for his next move to see what would happen, if the A.I. would choose a path like turning on light bulbs and scaring people, or if he would try to kill, demolish, and conquer."

"So have you figured out what he is trying to do?"

"Well we have ideas but we're not exactly sure what he wants. After Lyoko he attacked a small bunker in Siberia, suffocated a guard and another ran into the tundra and died of hypothermia."

"Well wouldn't that tell you something? I mean if he killed two guys that probably means that he wants to kill."

"Ya but Jeremy thinks otherwise. He says that he could just be curious about the people he sees. You see X2 as we call him is a very curious A.I., he wants to explore, but the problem is that he is made of some wierd gas that is completely lethal from the first breath, so any attempts to use touch fail because it would kill the person he's touching."

"So you're saying he is a poisonous A.I. who's trying to learn about humans? Why would he want to do that?"

"Because it's an A.I., Ulrich, every A.I. ever made in the history of the universe needs an objective, otherwise its just a sitting piece of junk waiting to rust."

"And why don't we just stop it? I mean it's killing innocent people!"

"We're trying to find a non-violent solution to the problem, but otherwise we don't know how to stop it yet."

Ulrich let out a sigh and then shook his head, walking back through the hallway.

Odd and Ulrich left the lobby and headed into the computer room. Everyone was gathered there staring at the metal tubes and thinking about the time they had had in it.

But before anyone said a word Jeremy spoke up and said, "Okay guys, well I know you've already been here and I've already bored you with my lectures, but you're going to have to live through another one. You guys have only been into DATUM once, and I think you're going to need a little bit more experience with it.

He typed a command into the computer and the materialization tubes opened with a _hiss._

Everyone got the message and went into the tubes.

Then Jeremy came onto the intercom inside the tubes and said, "Okay everyone, it looks like I'm going to drop you off in the Urban region,there you guys will get a pretty good experience in the system.

_Location: Urban Region_

_DATUM Time: Midday_

Lone buildings stood like sentinels, eternally searching for an unknown enemy until they crumbled. Some skyscrapers had already crumbled, and some were set ablaze, on their last stages until annihilation. Dust and smoke filled the air, giving the place a feeling of death and destruction, and adding to the feeling, bullet fire could be heard from afar, and occasionally a flash and a bang could be seen from on of the skyscrapers, a sniper opening fire at an enemy.

Ulrich sat behind a concrete barrier with a steel combat knife in his hands, he was about to peek out from cover to survey the enemy when a bullet whizzed by, chipping some of the concrete from his cover and nearly hitting him between the eyes. _Why do these guys have such good accuracy?_ He thought as he moved back behind cover.

He had been launched straight into a burning building, with no weapon of any kind, and hardly any time to escape. When he did leave the building he was confronted by one of _them_. The soldiers that were attacking this city and the ones responsible for its downfall. The enemy soldier was outfitted in a black suit that completely covered all of his body in a strong, latex like cover, on his face was a mask of the same latex like substance that had strange translucent amber colored eye cover.

When Ulrich realized he was about to be attacked his martial arts skills kicked in and he threw a straight punch right into his opponent's jaw. His attacker, fell but soon got back up and was about to pull out a knife when Ulrich kicked him in the knee and threw a hammer fist flying into his neck. With a crack he went limp, dropping the knife.

Ulrich picked it up and made his way into another house in front of him to get his bearings, he was in the outskirts of the downtown area of the city, at least 20 miles away from the downtown area. The suburban area he was in was surprisingly intact, with only a handful of troop patrols lining the streets and most of the houses standing.

Ulrich reached for his walkie-talkie around his belt and was about to press the talk button when he heard something from the speaker.

"This is Leo, I repeat codename Leo, anybody out there?"

Ulrich was thankful to hear a familiar voice and spoke back into the device, "Leo, thank God you're there, this is Samurai, where are you? I haven't seen any friendlies since we got here."

"Well we haven't been here that long, I'm sure you'll find someone. I mean I just ran into a group of marines that are trying to take back control of the city."

"You just _what!_"

"Ya, Jeremy wasn't lying about the improvements to Lyoko, I mean, DATUM. He added Maya, marines, enemies, I'm pretty sure he's also made vehicles."

"Hold on Odd, just tell me where you are so we can meet up." Ulrich looked out the door to check for any enemies in the area.

"We're at the top of the biggest skyscraper downtown, well, the biggest one still standing that is. The marines here said that their bird went down and half of the guys on board died. So where are you anyway, the sniper hasn't seen anyone on the ground that even slightly looks friendly."

"I'm in the suburban outskirts, I can see the building you're talking about, it will probably be a while before I get there."

"Okay, if we get this Hawk up and running again you'll be the first one to know, Leo out."

Ulrich made sure there were no enemies once more and leaped from his hiding spot, running in the direction of the city. After an hour of non-stop walking, he got to a slight up-hill area. From the vantage point he found that at least five miles of suburbia lay between him and the city, and then he had to get to downtown. He estimated that the trip would take two hours by foot, so he just kept walking.

Yumi had no better trip; when she was virtualized, she found herself in a bare room, with only a window and a doorway leading into the rest of the house. But before she could even think of getting away, she found a guard standing in the doorway, looking the other way. Yumi took the opportunity to attack and reached for her weapon, but she felt nothing on her back. She had no weapon.

Taken by complete surprise at the lack of weaponry, Yumi tried to look for one. Looking around the room she found nothing but bare walls and torn floorboards. She took a step towards the guard, but before she could do anything the floor creaked, giving away her position.

The guard turned around and took a step back, surprised. He then took control of himself and pulled out his rifle, aiming it right at her. But before he could take a shot, _bang,_ a shot was heard.

The guard then looked at himself, a hole showing the other side off his chest was right where his heart should be. He fell over and went limp.

William came into the doorway, holding a big rifle and resting it on his shoulder.

"Looks like the damsel is in distress," he said, looking at her with a cocky look look on his face.

"Well its a good thing my knight in shining armor is here to help me." she said, looking back into his eyes.

Then the radio on William's belt started to go off, and he took it out and started listening to what was being said on the other side. William exchanged a yes and a grunt, and then put the radio back in his belt. He motioned for Yumi to follow him and put his rifle back on his back.

Two hours later, Ulrich was running down the street, passing wrecked cars and jumping over concrete barriers. Ulrich ran passed building after building and eventually came to a circular cul de sac, a dead end.

Ulrich looked around for a way out and spotted an open fence. He was running towards it and was about to go through when he heard something, the running of footsteps, two pairs of legs, thumping and thumping.

Ulrich ran behind a concrete barrier and pulled out his lone combat knife, opening it quietly. Then the footsteps stopped, he heard heavy breathing, and under the breathing he heard curses, probably soldiers who had taken a wrong turn, wanting to get back into the action. Ulrich tensed up and sprung out from his hiding space, taking his knife and holding it in a ready position, then he realized something, these weren't soldiers, nor were they friends.

The people Ulrich was looking at were stragglers, civilians, refugees. They were wearing grey, faded clothing, with a couple of tears here and there. There were two of them, one was a father, about average size and build, with a pipe in his hands as a weapon. The other was young, only a child, with fear in his eyes and a weariness that can only be caused from running, running for hours on hours.

The father took his pipe and held it high over his head, before he stopped and looked at Ulrich carefully.

"Who, who are you?" he asked in this tired and scared voice.

"I'm not an enemy, I'm here to-" but Ulrich didn't get to finish his sentence. Before he could a helicopter with chain guns and rockets equipped. The side opened, revealing a turret and mounter.

The chopper stared right at Ulrich and then moved on to the father, holding his child in his arms, eyes closed, praying to God. The turret man's gun was spinning up, getting faster and faster, almost at firing speed, and then... _bam!_

The noise was almost deafening, and after the firing stopped, a ringing was in Ulrich's ears so loud he couldn't hear anything, only see the destruction that was left by the weapons. The father and child were knocked to the floor, but were otherwise untouched. Only the ground a little ways away was broken and cracked from the bullets, leaving a small crater.

Two enemies lay on the ground next to the crater, dead. And the father was still clutching his child, eyes closed. Then the chopper landed, and a number of marines came out with rifles at their shoulders, aiming to the sides and behind them to check for any more hostiles. Then they pulled the father up from off of the ground, and walked him over to the helicopter to be taken to a medic, the child still in his arms.

Odd then hopped out of the chopper. He was wearing a purple army camouflage and had night vision goggles on the top of his head.

Ulrich ran up to him and with a laugh shook his hand. "Oh my God!" he said, "You just about scared the crap out of me!" he said.

"Yeah, well we didn't want you to get hurt or anything," Odd said with a laugh. He then walked into the helicopter, with Ulrich following.


	10. Chapter 9 Practice P2

******Hey! sorry it's been so long, I've been kind of procrastinating on the whole writing thing. Anyway here's part 9 hot off the revising table, hope you like it!**

**And by the way, I'll have maybe two more chapters in DATUM's urban region, so be prepared.**

**Shout out to Merlyna! 3**

**Afterlife Part 9**

Odd and Ulrich were in a helicopter, along with a refugee and a handful of marines. Odd and Ulrich were sitting next to each other, their legs dangling out of the chopper and their eyes glued to the ground. Despite the fact that this was all fake, it felt so real, every now and then they would see a dead body, a crumbled house, a large crater. And sometimes a crashed transport, with a blood trail leading to a dead marine, his body slumped up against a house.

They were headed for downtown, the epicenter of the disaster, to look for the rest of the group and try to get a signal from the surrounding area. The height of the helicopter was staggering, they could see everything around the city, and circling downtown, a large area of suburbia lay, untouched compared to the downtown area, where skyscrapers tumbled and the constant sound of gunfire can be heard.

Just then the radio on another soldiers waist started to crackle, and a voice could be heard, the officer held the radio up to his ear for a moment and then gave it to Ulrich "It's for you sir." he said as he handed it to Ulrich. "Would you like me to patch you in ,too Odd." the marine asked.

"That depends, is it the pizza guy?" Odd asked with a comical look in his eyes.

The marine looked confused, and Ulrich was trying hard not to laugh.

"Just give him a phone soldier." Ulrich said as he took the radio out of the soldiers hands.

Ulrich put the device up to his ears and spoke into it, "Hello, This is codename Samurai, who's there?"

"Ulrich?" a reply came, "is that you?" the voice sounded feminine, .

"Is this Maya?" Ulrich asked.

"Yes, I am Maya. Are you alone? Is anyone else near you? Are you okay?"

"Woh there Maya. Hold on a second. Yes this is Ulrich and I have Odd here with me. We are both fine so what about you?" Ulrich asked.

"I am fine," her voice came through the speaker, "can you patch Odd into the conversation?"

"Hello?" Odd said, "Can you both hear me?"

"Yes we can Odd." Maya's voice came through, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm, okay I guess. Um, how are you?" Odd replied.

"Oh I'm fine thank you for asking." she said.

"Wait, where are you now?" Ulrich asked.

"I am in a tall building, looking out of a large window, I can see your helicopter flying by heading for downtown."

"Good, just stay put, we'll play a little game of trial and error to get to you.""

"Well, I could tell you what building I'm in."

Just then Jeremy's voice came out of nowhere, "I would really suggest not doing that, this is a practice session, I don't want you guys cheating."

Ulrich rolled his eyes "Okay Einstein, we'll do what you want to do, what building do you want to start with Odd?"

"Mmm, eeny meany miny moe, catch a..."

"Okay Odd seriously."

"That one," Odd said as he pointed to a tall skyscraper, it was reflecting in the evening sun, which was minutes from going down into the horizon.

Ulrich nodded to him and looked to the pilot, "Sir?" the pilot asked.

"Head to that one," Ulrich said as he pointed, "and make it quick, we don't know which one she's in."

"Copy that." he said as he pushed some buttons and steered towards the building, they were going slowly, so as not to waste any good fuel that they had left, when a marine looked out behind them.

"Sir! we've got bogeys coming in on our six. Looks like attack choppers, recommend _immediate _action!"

Ulrich looked out of the side doors and back at the menacing helicopters making their way towards their small troop transport, "Well, this doesn't look good." he said to himself.

He turned to everyone in the cramped chopper and felt a rush of courage. But as he turned around he felt a rush of fear. The marines sitting there looking to him with sad faces, the pilot sweating his socks off at the blips on his radar, but above all he felt sorry for the kid and his father who were sitting in the back, hunched together praying for their lives.

Ulrich then looked up at Odd, who was above all else, smiling.

"We'll get through this Ulrich, we just need a plan." he said as he looked towards the building they were heading, "And _maybe_ a little luck."

Just then, a big _clink_ sound came from the back of the helicopter, and the pilot shouted, "_We've been shot at! Evasive maneuvers!"_

"No!," Ulrich shouted, "stay on course for the building, we'll make it!"

"But those choppers are equipped with rockets, mini guns, and a few extra troops, if we don't pull back we're all _dead_!"

"Hey, soldier," Odd said back to him 'nonchalantly, "calm down, if anyone can handle the situation, it's that guy right there."

The soldier looked at Odd and shook his head, "No you don't know what they can do, none of you do." then he turned back to his controls.

Odd got up and walked over to Ulrich who was listening in to his radio, "What are they saying?" Odd asked.

"They're asking us to stand down and surrender, cowardly bastards, they're threatening to use deadly force if we don't comply." Ulrich replied.

"Then don't comply, don't respond, we'll test their patience." Odd said.

Ulrich looked back to his long lost friend and smiled, "That might be our way out of this situation."

And as Ulrich said this a loud blast rang out from behind, and a missile went flying past the chopper, exploding and leaving a huge hole in the side of the building.

"Now! land in that opening and open fire!" Ulrich shouted to the troops.

The helicopter pilot steered his way towards the giant gap and pressed a button on the dash, which opened up an automatic turret on the bottom of the metal beast, which opened fire as soon as it was deployed, hitting at least one chopper and damaging it slightly.

"Damn these choppers! They're moving to higher altitude to get away from the fire!"

Ulrich looked out at the choppers behind them and picked up a rifle from the ground, he aimed at the chopper and fired round after round of ammo at it, but it wouldn't budge, the shots either missed completely or only skimmed the metal casing.

Ulrich cursed to himself and threw the empty weapon on the floor next to him.

The helicopter was making its way ever closer to the gaping hole in the building when something happened, a small bit of blue smoke could be seen in the hole, and the pilot shouted with excitement, "Sir! we've got soldiers in the building we're headed for, they're setting blue smoke signals to use, you should try to radio them."

Ulrich looked at the blue smoke and was about to turn on his radio to contact them when it stopped, he was about to say something when the choppers behind him opened fire again and pelted the back of the chopper with bullets, setting the engine ablaze .

The pilot was struggling to keep the metal beast from falling, and was pulling the control stick as hard as he could, trying to steer towards the hole in the wall, when the attack helicopters fired one last crucial shot at the helicopter's fan blades, officially knocking the already damaged helicopter into an uncontrollable spiral.

Ulrich looked out at the enemy choppers that were becoming smaller and smaller as he and the rest of the crew was heading for the ground, Ulrich felt a huge shockwave as the chopper hit the ground, and then blackness.


	11. Chapter 10 Practice P3

**Hey guys!**

**Sorry I haven't been posting updates in a while, I've been procrastinating and... uh... studying. Yeah studying *shifty eyes***

**So Mid-terms are Dec. 12-17 and I'll have half-days ALL throughout that week.**

**So I'm getting some BIG writing time with all of this, and plus I'll get Winter Break too.**

**Anyway, again, sorry for the long wait. **

**In other news... I have a new list of awesome FanFics for you guys to check out:**

**Atonement-ATLA FF by Miss Faber**

**Operation FIRESTORM- Halo FF by XXBlueDude2XX (this guy in particular needs support... if you're into Halo)**

**Overall thanks for all of the support guys, more episodes on the way ;)**

**Afterlife Part 10**

Ulrich opened his eyes and saw nothing but debris. The shattered remains of the helicopter were everywhere, and everyone that was in the chopper were gone. Ulrich couldn't breathe, it felt like something was pressing down on his lungs, constricting his throat. Ulrich looked down at his body and saw that a pretty large sized chuck of concrete was lying on him, and it felt like it weighed four tons. Ulrich pushed up against it, trying to get it off, but nothing happened, the block was just too heavy. Then Ulrich had an idea: why not just get enough off of him to let him breathe? So Ulrich carefully pushed on the block slowly, cooking all of his energy to a simmer to strengthen his force.

He pushed up against it again, but again nothing happened. He could feel his lungs struggling to make amends, not being able to keep up with the demands of the heart, not being able to supply the much needed oxygen. So he just laid there, feeling his body shutting down, feeling the pain slowly go away, and his life flowing out of his body slowly.

Then, he remembered Odd, Maya, and the little child and his father. The pain once again filled his limbs, and a new found courage swept into his soul. So with one last push, with all the strength he could muster, he lifted the block off of his chest, and took in a gulp of the life-giving air around him.

Ulrich sat there, breathing, for at least an hour, checking himself for injuries and taking in the damaged and destroyed scenery around him. After he thanked God for the body he had taken for granted, he got up and looked at the damaged skyscraper above him. The crumbled remains of his helicopter were everywhere, slashed metal, broken glass, and smoke were everywhere.

"Maya, I hope you're in there." he thought to himself as he looked around for a weapon. Finding a knife, he held it in his hands and felt surprisingly at ease with it, twirling it around in his hands like it was a stick.

Then carefully he walked to the entrance, looking around to make sure this wasn't a trap. Ulrich came into the huge lobby, with lavish couches and a large brass clock at the end. Then he looked out of the door, and saw destruction, crumbling towers, and Slowly he made his way to the end of the room, where a room could be seen that was completely dark.

Ulrich then looked to his belt to see if he had anything useful. And after discovering a pistol (wouldn't that have been useful), some ammo, a portable radio, and a flashlight, he knew he was all set.

Noticing the radio a second time, Ulrich turned it on, "Hello, this is Ulrich. You there Odd, Maya?"

He listened intently for a reply, and hearing nothing but static he gave up.

So taking out his flashlight and shining it through the dark doorway, he kept on walking, thinking of what it would be like to see Odd again... or Yumi.

Ulrich kept walking up the stairs slowly, checking all of the doorways he came to for enemies, and hopefully allies. As he came up to the first flight of stairs he saw nothing unusual, just an empty hall and dust.

All of the lights were off, and when Ulrich tried a switch, nothing worked.

But as Ulrich got higher up the many floors, there was more debris in the way, disfigured paintings, broken floor tiles, toppled chandeliers, and other everyday objects.

Making his way up the stairs Ulrich wailed "Maya! Odd! Anyone in here!"

Listening hard, Ulrich thought he heard something, like a whisper or a muffled scream. That was all it took to send Ulrich sprinting down the hall, flashlight in hand.

Ulrich clambered up yet another staircase and look a breath. Looking at the number on the wall, "Floor seven, now only 93 more to go." Ulrich said as he sighed to himself.

Just then he heard something, a rustling that came from the room a couple of doors down. Instinctively, Ulrich raised his flashlight up at the source, but as he did so a blurred figure ran back into the hallway, knocking over a chair and sending the sound of footsteps up the hall until they abruptly stopped.

Ulrich ran over to the intersection, but halted abruptly when he found the stranger pointing a revolver at him. fire at Ulrich, who ducked into a room before the shot hit the door frame next to him.

"Get away! You're one of _them!_ I know it! You followed me, you followed me here, you're after my daughter!" he shouted in a crazed voice from someone who had suffered too much trauma at one time.

"I'm not here for your daughter! I'm just looking for my friends," Ulrich shouted back at the gun wielding maniac.

"No! You'll never get to her! She's protected by God!" the man wailed back as he ran back into the hall.

Ulrich ran out after him with revolver in hand, running as fast as he could. But the crazy man was just too fast, leaving Ulrich in the dust staring into an empty hall that looked just a little too ominous.

Ulrich was about to take his chances and follow when he heard a crackle come from his radio.

Ulrich reluctantly took out his radio and listened as someone asked "Hello? Hello is anyone there?"

Ulrich started to reply when something held him back. He didn't know what it was, but he just couldn't bring himself to talk back.

Ulrich tried again, but he just couldn't, something was actually _holding _him back.

Struggling, he turned his head to see what was happening, and that's when he saw it.

Ulrich gasped, hardly believing what he was seeing. He'd turned around to look into his own eyes, his own self. He was looking at himself, exact shape, exact face, exact eyes, exact everything.

Then it started talking. In a voice like his own, but different, with an evil intonation it said, "_Dark shall be the moon on the eve of death. And all shall perish when the war is over, you and your friends will not survive the attack, for even if you do then you will wish yourselves dead._"

Then, the entity turned into a vast blue smoke and spoke in a voice like a ghost's, "This world is mine, and has been mine. Jeremy, Aelita, Odd, Maya, you... and Yumi. Yes I know their names. I know all, for I am _God, I am I.R.I.S.!"_

Instantly, all of the blue smoke simply diminished into a speck, and then went away. Ulrich was still in shock when he remembered the radio.

He pulled it up to his ear and heard Maya talking. "Ulrich, Ulrich are you there?"

"I-I'm here." Ulrich stuttered.

"Good, I've been trying to contact you for hours, have you made your way into the building?"

"Yes."

"Okay, what floor are you on?"

"Maya I need to talk to Odd, is he there?" Ulrich said.

Maya hesitated, "Yes he's here, but why didn't you answer my question?"

"Maya this is an emergency, I need to speak with Odd immediately."

There was some shuffling and a few seconds of silence before Odd finally got on the radio, "Hey Ulrich, where are you? We've been trying to reach you on the radio for like an hour?"

"Odd where are you?" Ulrich asked with a serious tone.

"I found Maya at the top floor, we've got all of the survivors from the crash here, we couldn't find you're body and took you for dead. You okay?"

"How did you get up there so fast?" Ulrich asked.

"Elevator..." Odd replied, "Why didn't you take it?"

Ulrich stared at the radio in disbelief, "I thought the power was out." Ulrich said.

"Well yes, but only the lights. The power-box had an elevator switch that was turned on." Odd said.

Ulrich looked to the left to see an elevator door and shook his head, "I'll be up there in a sec."

"Okay bro, don't take too long now."

Ulrich walked over to the elevator and stared at the Up button for a while, and when he pressed it the button lit up and he heard the hum of machinery. He looked at the floor and shook his head, cursing himself for being so stupid.

Before he knew it he heard a _ding _and the doors opened, revealing a brightly lit elevator waiting for his use.

Ulrich stepped in and pressed the button for the top floor, as he did so the doors shut and elevator music could be heard.

Ulrich just stood there, looking at the ceiling, thinking about the beast, the evil, I.R.I.S. The thing that had single handedly rendered him immobile, as if it had been nothing.

Then the doors opened, showing a brightly lit room, full of happy marines, Odd, Maya, and the refugees.

"Glad you made it to the party." Odd said as he handed him a Coke, "It was starting to get boring without you."


	12. Chapter 11 Moving Forward

**Afterlife Part 11**

Ulrich stared at Odd in disbelief, "You mean to tell me that while I've been chased by a lunatic, had to thrust a hundred pound cement block off of my chest, and was attacked by a blue smoke beast, you guys have been up here sipping coke and listening to music!" Ulrich said as he pointed to the radio, playing in the corner.

"Yep!" Odd said with a smile, "I don't see a prob-"

"Blue smoke beast?" Maya cut in, "What are you talking about?" she said from the couch she had been laying on.

"This is _your_ simulation, I'm sure you should know about _your _smoke beast!" Ulrich shouted.

"No, seriously Ulrich, what smoke beast?" Maya said, with a serious look in her eyes.

Ulrich scratched his head, "You seriously don't about a blue smoke monster that can change its form, immobilize anyone, and suffocate enemies all at the same time?"

Maya stood up immediately, and walked over to Ulrich, "Was it talking about becoming a God?"

"Yeah but-" Ulrich said before he was interrupted.

"You need to get out of here." Maya said.

Odd got up and shouted, "Woh Maya, we can't just leave, what about the enemy troops and the-"

"Odd this isn't about the simulation, which it is just that, a simulation. Now I am going to materialize you right now, I'm sorry."

"No you're not Maya, we need to deal with this right now, we can't just retreat without even trying." Ulrich said.

"Ulrich, this smoke beast has been here before and knows how to kill, if _it_ kills you, you will not materialize, you will _die._"

Ulrich looked up in disbelief, he just couldn't find out what to say.

"You're going to be materialized Ulrich, you and Odd, and Yumi, and William as well. It's just too big of a risk." Maya said.

"But what about you? Why can't you be materialized?" Odd asked, with a look of sadness on his face.

"You know that can never happen, I'm just a program, I can't be materialized." Maya smiled, "But when I can you will be the first one to know."

Odd reluctantly gave in, looked into Maya's eyes and felt something, a spark, a buzz, some feeling he had never felt before.

Maya smiled at the pair and closed her eyes, "Jeremy, take them back."

"I was wondering when you would end it. You guys know she'll be in good hands, I've prepared for this."

Then they went back to reality...

Odd opened his eyes to find himself in the familiar metal tube. When the doors opened, he found everyone already out of their pods and looking at the holograms displayed.

He casually walked out and stood next to Ulrich, "What did you mean by "Blue Smoke Beast?"

"I don't know, it called itself I.R.I.S., I guess it could be X.A.N.A.'s creation, but I don't know."

"You say that you saw a blue smoke beast," Jeremy said.

"Yeah, I thought it was the simulation at first, I thought you guys knew everything in there inside and out."

Then Maya's face could be seen on the screen, with her blonde hair and her purple armor, "Yes it was a simulation, but the blue smoke beast wasn't part of it, we've had some unconfirmed reports of it being here, but never a one-on-one confrontation with one."

"Yes," Jeremy said, "like she said, we need to delete this program right now, because I didn't make it, and we have suspicions that it may have something to do with current events."

"What do you mean?" Ulrich asked.

"Turn on the news." Jeremy replied.

Ulrich picked up a remote and pointed it at the wall, when he pressed the On button, a TV came out of the wall, already displaying the news.

"I just never get over that." Odd said with awe.

Ulrich looked over at him without a smile, staring him down with a serious face.

"What? It's just awesome!"

Ulrich shook his head and looked back at the screen, which was displaying scenes of a "Terrorist Train Bombing."

A reporter was on scene, many yards away from the explosion, "Tragedy took France today as a high-speed bullet train was making its usual route from Paris to Valence, when it was stricken into flames. We are unsure as to what happened to cause this catastrophic loss of life, but locals have speculated that terrorists are responsible for these attacks on civilians.

Jeremy turned the TV off and stared at the group for a while, eventually he finally spoke, "I know that all of us came here to test DATUM, voluntarily or not. I know that not all of you recognized the exact risks until I gave the speech on I.R.I.S. a few days ago. However all of that is irrelevant is the fact that the world is in danger. Today we made a great stride, we finally got a peak at him, at I.R.I.S., and what he is capable of. We looked the beast in the eyes and survived, and have left with more knowledge then we went in with."

Ulrich stared up at Jeremy and asked, "So what, now we know that we can't go up against this thing, how will that help us?"

**(This is where I continued writing after... what, a five month absence? Oh well, I'M BACK GUYS!)**

"How am I to know? Maybe this knowledge will help us in the future, maybe it won't, the good thing is _we know_. And if we have no knowledge, then what do we live for?"

Ulrich looked down at the floor uncomfortably, trying to resist the urge to walk out.

Then Yumi turned to him and smiled, "We'll get through this together."

She took his hand, and Ulrich grasped his around hers, smiling and nodding in turn.

"Together." he said.

**Hey guys, it's been a while since I started writing in this story. Well guess what, I'M BACK! This story was meant to be short, I'm just making sure you guys know that I'm now making new chapters of Afterlife. WOOT! Again thanks for your support. Alert & favorite if you feel the need to, and reviews and PMs are always welcome.**

**Thanks!**

**Mastermind416 (Brennan :P)**


	13. Chapter 12 Dance

**Hey! Hey guys! This is part 12! I actually never thought I'd make one. I always believed that I had given up on Afterlife and my FF profile, but then I was like "I must complete it." So yeah, here it is, part 12, in all of its shining glory :D**

**Remember to alert & fav if you feel the need, and review whenever you can. Trust me, I need reviews...**

**Afterlife Part 12**

After Jeremy's speech and the stressful training match, Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, and Aelita decided to get something to eat. They were excruciatingly hungry. The simulation felt like it lasted only a few hours, yet on the surface it had lasted a full 24 hours.

When they all had met up at the sub shop, everyone was quiet, no one talked, everyone simply sipped their drinks and ate their food quietly, which was odd due to the fact that Odd was with them.

Finally Aelita broke the ice, "So... how was your battle?"

Ulrich answered "It went okay, Odd here freaked the hell out of me."

"What? We took you for dead and went ahead up the skyscraper." Odd sipped his coffee.

"You didn't even check for me! That's the least you could've done."

Odd put his cup down, "We did, you were no where to be found."

"I bet you didn't even try, you're just saying that."

"What? What did I do? We were under heavy fire and had a _child_ with us, we didn't have time to check for you."

"Ha! So you didn't check for me!"

Odd scowled at him.

They stared at each other in fury, Ulrich with a look of anger, and Odd with the same..

Ulrich took another sip from his cup, and Odd copied the motion. Ulrich stopped mid-way, and so did Odd.

Ulrich moved the cup side to side, Odd again copied him..

A small grin started to form on both their faces. Ulrich put his cup down with Odd doing the same. Then he quickly picked it back up again. Odd did the same but sent his coffee spilling out onto the table.

The entire group laughed their heads off, and Odd sat with a red face, embarrassed.

"Smooth Odd." Aelita said in between laughs.

Pretty soon Odd was laughing along with them.

When they stopped, they continued to talk about the mission, of the weapons they were given, of the training they somehow knew as soon as they entered the system, "It's just like the Matrix!" Odd shouted.

They talked of William, who never seemed to want to join them at the sub shop, and was gone to who-knows-where most of the time. When the conversation shifted over to Maya, Odd stopped talking and silently sipped from what was left of his coffee, the rest of which had been cleaned up with napkins.

When everyone was full and they all sat in quiet contentment, someone behind the counters turned on the TV to the news.

They were all watching the TV with calm faces, enjoying the peace that was settling down for now.

Odd suddenly got an idea and stood up from the table, "Hey guys, I'm going to go check on DATUM."

Aelita perked up and asked, "Could I go with you?"

"I'd like to go alone if that's okay with you."

"Oh, alright." she sat back in her chair and looked back at the TV.

Odd walked out of the shop and strode casually to the abandoned apartment complex.

When Odd walked into the DATUM room, he looked at the super computer, curious as to how it works.

He walked up to it and sat in the chair, surprised at how comfy it felt. He surveyed the buttons on the keyboard and saw one that said "On".

When he pressed it, all of the monitors were surged with power and snapped on to a screen asking for a password. Odd sat, perplexed, and before he could try to enter something Maya came onto one of the screens.

"Hey Jeremy, I've been. Oh! It's you Odd, why are you here?" her voice was sweet and calm, filled with curiosity.

"Oh, uh, I just wanted to go into DATUM one more time, do you know how to virtualize me?"

"Of course I can! I've been doing that for Jeremy since I was programmed." she observed Odd up and down "Just step into the chamber."

One of the chambers on the back of the wall opened up. Odd walked up to it and felt the metal on the outside of it.

"Hey Maya?"

"Yes Odd?" Maya answered through a speaker above him.

"What is this stuff made of?"

Maya didn't answer for a while, "I don't know myself, possibly a form of steel. Mostly iron with a few traces of other elements, you know I've never thought about that myself."

Odd walked into the chamber, "Ready." he said.

"Alright, initiating virtualization."

Odd felt his skin prickle and a tingly sensation ran down his back. He shut his eyes and felt nothingness grip his senses. Two seconds later, he felt something beneath his feet and breathed in air through his nostrils, it smelled like a doctor's office.

When he opened his eyes he could see nothing by white all around. "Maya?" he shouted into the whiteness.

"I'm right here."

Odd turned around to see her in a velvet purple dress with gold trims, her hair pulled back and a purple flower placed in it.

"So what did you want, more training?"

"No, just curious. Where are we?"

"Right now we're in the void. Here you can spawn anything, prepare weapons, try out vehicles, you name it."

Odd looked around, "Is it, infinite?"

"Yep, nothing but void all around." she motioned with her arm and started to twirl, dancing in an angelic grace Odd had never seen before. She leapt and bent, twirled and swayed, dancing in a random pattern.

Odd watched and smiled, watching her awe-inspiring beauty. Then she began to sing, her voice like a sweet bird, making its highs and lows, vibrato and tremolo. Her singing was strange in DATUM, different than on the real world. It carried a scent along with sound, reminding him of honeysuckle and fresh rain. It was surreal, yet completely normal. He felt light, as if he could fly in the air and never have to land.

When Odd began to notice the things around him, he found himself dancing with her, holding her hand, twirling her, holding her.

Odd looked in her eyes and smiled, he felt happier than he had felt in a long time. Maya was laughing, the sound giving Odd a sense of weightlessness.

When they were at the end of the dance, Odd let go of her and looked down at himself, surprised to see himself in a purple suit.

"What? When did I-"

Maya put her finger to his lips, smiling.

"So tell me Odd, why did you really come here?" she released her finger.

"I came here to see you." he said, smiling.

"It didn't seem like that when you first got here."

Odd thought for a moment, "To tell you the truth, I only just found out why I came here."

Maya laughed, then twirled off in the opposite direction.

Odd looked after her, he felt a tingling sensation like the one he felt when he virtualized. Except this time it wasn't on his back, it was tugging at his heart.

**Thank you for reading part 12, alert & favorite if you think it's worth it, review whenever you can.**

**Have a blessed day :)**


	14. Chapter 13 War on the Horizon

**Hey guys, just to let you know the last review I got was from chapter 7, since then I've almost doubled my output since then :(**

**REVIEWS NEEDED GUYS!**

**Lol, thanks, oh I forgot!**

**Here's part 13 ;D**

**Afterlife Part 13**

Odd looked at Maya in her god-like beauty, entranced by the golden-blonde hair that came down to her shoulders. She looked up into the white sky of the void and waved her hand back and forth. As she did, a large castle formed itself from nothingness, with purple banners hanging from windows in the multiple turrets protruding into the white sky.

Then she waved her hand again, and the sky turned to a beautiful pure blue. Maya turned back to Odd and smiled, then ran into the castle with a laugh, shouting "Catch me if you can!"

Odd smiled and ran after her, just barely keeping up with her into the grand entrance hall.

The walls were lined with gold shields and armor, elegant sofas and chairs had gold trim and violet lace sat on the marble floors, which were rugged with soft red. A high-back black throne with gold cushions sat at the end of the room on a small, raised platform.

Odd looked around for any sign of Maya., behind chairs, under tables, even in some unlit fireplaces.

While he was looking under a table, he heard a giggling and the soft sound of feet on carpet.

He turned around abruptly, briefly seeing Maya in her purple dress go into a hall, Odd followed.

When he entered, the first thing he noticed were the windows, shining in gold light from the artificial sun. He looked out the window and gasped, the normal white floor that usually covered the void was replaced by rolling hills of beautiful lush grass, with purple flowers specking the ever green terrain.

When he turned he was startled to see Maya, standing right in front of him, inches from his body.

"Woh! Maya, I didn't see you there."

"Odd, I have a question to ask you." Maya asked.

"Sure go ahead."

Maya took his hand and lead him back into the hall, seating herself in one of the many couches.

"Odd?"

"Yes Maya?"

"What is love?"

Odd sat still, caught by surprise by the question. He searched his mind for an answer, and drawing nothing but blank, decided to go with his gut.

"Love is... well, first. Why do you ask?"

"Because every time I ask Jeremy he dodges the question and changes the subject."

"Oh, well. Love is when, well. Love is... I don't know how to explain it."

"Oh come on, I'm sure you have some idea." Maya looked into his eyes, a look of cat-like wonder in her eyes.

"Well, love is when two people feel, uh, compassionate for each other and, uh. Well let me just say it. Love is when two people feel a strong bod with each other. Such a strong bond that they practically can't live without each other."

Maya had a glazed look on her face, like she was in deep thought over something. Then she stood upright and gasped.

"What is it?"

Maya looked Odd in the eyes, "DATUM's under attack!"

_Location: New York_

_Time: 0900 hours_

The subway system under Manhattan was bustling. People were everywhere, running here, there, in a train, out of a train, buying food.

A man was playing a guitar, sitting against the wall. Occasionally people would walk by and drop money in a hat he had set, to which he would nod and smile.

More people would flood in from the escalators as time went on, and the place soon became very very crowded.

A man in a nice suit was waiting for a train, occasionally brushing off some stray lint or dirt or tightening his tie.

_What's going on here?_ he thought_ It's been fourteen minutes! I'm going to be late and then I'll have to make up an excuse. Maybe I'll say-_

He stopped his train of thought abruptly, **(A/N hehe, train) ** thinking he heard something in the tunnel.

_Is that a train?_ he thought_ Sounds like it's going five-hundred miles an hour!_

The screech of metal and the quick thumping of the train was very faint, but enough to cause a few people to look around and scratch their heads.

After a few minutes the sound was definitely coming from the left tunnel, and a small light was seen from the deep recesses of the dark tunnel. Then the light got bigger, and brighter, and bigger, and brighter, and with it came the sound. Now the sound filled the entire hall with the noise, causing some people to jump up the escalators, but most to lean towards the tracks and look.

Just minutes later the sound was deafening, the light bright as the sun, most everyone covered their ears and headed for the stairs, some screaming, some standing in blatant shock.

Then the train ripped by, on fire. The flames lapped at the ceiling and some even branched out into the hall.

The train took at least a full minute to pass, but when it did the fire left the train stood in mid-air, burning from nothing.

The remaining people looked up in awe at the beautiful force of the object that could only be described as a miracle, its brightness almost blinding, filling the room with a huge white light.

The fire swirled about, so hot that everyone in the room could feel it, and after a while it began to form itself.

It swirled quicker and quicker, morphing itself from a formless blob of fire to a man-shaped inferno. The beast looked around at the stunned people, some on their knees shaking, some still standing in shock, and most running away screaming in terror.

It slowly raised its hand and shot a burst of flames at a group of people running, instantly incinerating them and leaving a pile of bones and ashes in their wake.

Then it began to speak, in an evil, hoarse whisper that reverberated off the walls and caused the entire hall to shake, "My. Name. Is. _I.R.I.S.!_ Let all who hear cower in fear, and all whom watch stand in awe at the force that shall soon claim control over this land and all others. You! Shall! _Perish!"_

Then the roof caved in, filling the air with the screams of innocent souls lost.

_Location: DATUM_

_Time: 0900 hours_

"What do you mean under attack?" Odd asked.

"I just sensed something, possibly I.R.I.S., move into our proximity. It's importing things into the void!"

"What _things?_" Odd asked.

Maya turned to Odd, "Monsters, and these aren't like the ones I can summon, these are different. I can't seem to contact them or shut them down like I can do to anything else in this world. They're not from DATUM, they're third-party programs."

Odd stood in shock, "So how _do_ we shut them down?"

Maya looked down, her eyes flashing from the calculations her mind was making, "We have to fight them."

**Yeah, here we go, _real_ battles are almost here! Not the simulation stuff I was writing because I thought "How will there be action if there won't be I.R.I.S. 'till later?" no, this is legit battles of life or death.**

**Anyways, yeah, my last review was on chapter 7, and I NEED REVIEWS!**

**I can't tell you how badly I need these guys, please, just, review please!**

**So yeah, alert & favorite if you think it's worth it, review whenever_ freaking possible!_ (Don't mean to sound like I'm pushing you around that's why I say whenever _possible_ ;)**

**Anyways have a blessed day, drink some hot chocolate, and we will see, you, later! **

**(GhostRobo reference ftw) **


	15. Chapter 14 Battle of Void Castle P1

**Sorry it's been such a long time guys, I've been working on Kana, my ATLA FanFic.**

**Anyways here's part 14, hope you like it ;)**

**Afterlife Part 14**

Odd stood looking out of a window in the castle, staring at the rolling green hills and bright sun that, despite them being fabricated, looked as real as if it were really there. The heat came through the windows and warmed his skin, and the grass rippled with passing wind that smelled as fresh as ever.

He turned to see Maya sitting on one of the elegant couches in the grand hall, her eyes half-closed, appearing deep in thought.

"So let me get this straight, enemies are entering the void, with the possibility of _killing_ us if we're not careful, and you can't delete them?"

Maya shook her head slowly, still deep in thought.

"Can't you make explosions appear around them or launch huge rocks at them?"

Maya didn't answer for a while, "I can't alter the world around them, I can't do anything to them as the master of this world, everything I try is just turned aside and forgotten. But they do have damage counters, so they can be destroyed by conventional methods." She continued to think, "But maybe you can hurt them. I can't do anything once they get near, modify the world, import new objects, delete programs, I couldn't even connect to the internet."

Odd chuckled and Maya's eyes snapped open, "Why are you laughing?" she asked in a monotone, serious voice.

Odd stopped abruptly and scratched her back, "It just seems so... ironic."

Maya's mouth opened as if she were to say something, but nothing came out. Her mouth slowly closed and a slight smile came to her lips, "I guess so."

Before they could say anything else, a small quake in the earth could be felt, if earth you call it.

Maya stood up and two rifles and a large box of ammo appeared on a small table next to the couch, "They're here."

With fluid motions Maya tossed a rifle to Odd and picked one up for herself. Without a second thought Odd checked to see if it was loaded and turned the safety off. Then a queer sensation went through his body, and he looked down to see that his purple tux had changed into body armor and straps of ammo were around his shoulders.

"So what do we do now?" Odd asked.

"What do you think?" Maya responded.

Odd looked out the window to see a tank roll over a hill (a modern tank, not like the ones from the actual cartoon,) almost three miles away.

"We don't have much time at all." he said.

"We never have enough time." Maya responded.

Maya stood looking into the distance and, without warning, yelped in pain and fell to her knees, clutching her chest and breathing heavily.

"What happened?" Odd asked, putting down his rifle and crouching down to her level.

"They've made it near enough," she gasped for air, "that I can't control anything around me."

Odd smiled vaguely and pulled her up by her hand, "Just calm down and sit for a while, I've got this."

Maya stared at him with hurt eyes, "You don't understand, I can't help you now, I can't devirtualize you when you need me to. You're on your own, with nothing but a rifle and basic body armor, up against two tanks and fifty soldiers."

Odd's smile faded away as he understood the situation, then grabbed his rifle and the case of ammunition, "Does this place have a rooftop access?"

Maya nodded, "Yes, through that hall and up ten flights of stairs."

Odd sighed, "Come with me." and ran into the hallway she indicated, with Maya following close behind, her hand in Odd's.

_Location: New York_

_Time: 0905 hours_

Ulrich, Yumi, Aileta, and Jeremie were sitting at the sub shoppe and putting back on their coats, preparing to go back outside.

Jeremie went to the counter and paid for everything, grabbing a peppermint from a small glass platter with the label, "_Take one!"_.

They were all about to leave when the TV released another alert and the news channel sprung on from the sports channel on a second ago.

The group stopped and closed the door, walking over to the TV placed over the bar.

A news desk with an anchorman and woman was in the foreground with a picture of the empire state building as a back-cover for the set.

The anchorman was zoomed in on and a small picture of a crashed train popped next to him in the top-right corner, with the caption "Terrorist Attack in New York".

The anchorman began to speak, "Startling news has just come in from our intelligence agents that a bomb has exploded in subway junction 2-A, and that a structural collapse has left a severe weakness in the roads above 43rd, 44th, and 46th streets, more details as they come."

All at once, everyone looked to each other, then back to Jeremie, to which he nodded. Then they ran back to the abandoned apartment complex as fast as they could.

_Location: DATUM_

_Time: 0907 hours_

Odd and Maya were crouched behind a concrete barrier set as a railing around the perimeter of the castle. The ammo cache Odd brought with him was set next to him, and his rifle (an F2000 for all who know what that looks like) was laying on the floor.

Maya was sitting with her back to the rail, hunched over in pain.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Odd asked, his eyes revealing a deep concern.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just make sure," she took in a breathe, "you aim for the head, and show no mercy."

Odd smiled and took his rifle, "I can do that."

Maya smiled weakly and closed her eyes, her breathing shallowed, "I'm trying to see if I can detect any weak points in their armor, miscalculations in their A.I. constructs. It looks like it will take longer than normal for them to react to a surprise attack, and their knee pads are weaker than the rest of their other armor."

Odd nodded and shoved a clip of ammo in the rifle, cocked a round into the chamber, and looked over the barrier for a second.

The men were completely oblivious to him, one was smoking a cigarette, another looking up at the clouds, and yet another observing the grandness of the castle.

The tanks stayed behind and were scanning the castle, looking for weak points in its structure and placed strategically to pin Odd behind cover when they could.

Then all at once, the fifty men stopped and pressed a finger to their right ear, apparently receiving orders from a higher power. All at once they looked through their rifle's sights and began scanning the castle, walking faster towards the doors.

"Now!" Maya said, "Before they make it into the castle!"

Odd raised his rifle's sights to his eyes and aimed for the nearest soldier to him. He took in a deep breath, put his finger on the trigger, and pulled.

The bullet burst out of the barrel and flew into the soldier's head, sending him limp instantly.

The rest of the soldiers looked down at their fallen comrade and stared for a few seconds, their programming trying to tell them what to do next. Then all at once they raised their rifles and fired blindly in his direction, forcing Odd into cover.

"Got one!" Odd said.

"Get more!" Maya screamed.

Odd nodded and tried to look over the railing, only to be stopped by a bullet that hit the barrier beside him, sending a small shard of concrete flying past his face.

_Shit!_ he thought, _we're screwed over if we stay here!_

Odd looked at Maya, "I'm going to have to move to another location if I want to get another of them!"

Maya nodded and tried to get up, only to scream in pain and sit back down against the railing.

"Go on." she said, "I'll be alright."

Odd wanted to say something, but before he could he heard a big _clack_ and the whistling of something flying through the air.

The first thing he noticed was the huge _BOOM! _that filled his ears, taking away his hearing and leaving him in silence.

Then he was nearly blinded by a huge, orange light that filled his entire field of vision.

After that he felt as if he were being thrown against brink, shaken and hit against the wall again and again.

Then he felt nothing, heard nothing, saw nothing, he could only feel peace enter his entire body, a peaceness like no other he had ever felt.

When he opened his eyes, his breath was taken from his body.

He saw a bright, yellow, swirling mass of smoke, snaking around a solid yellow orb in the center of it.

Wherever he was, there was nothing else but that swirling mass of smoke and pure, white walls that formed the large room he was in now.

Then it began to speak, in a voice that seemed to whisper, yet was as loud as a jet plane, and as quiet as a mouse at the same time.

"Ah, I see you, Odd Della Robia."

Odd tried to speak, but couldn't move, it was as if he were in a dream.

"I remember you, you were cocky and had no regard for safety then, but you have changed." it laughed, "it has been a long while since we have met. In fact I do not think we have even met formally before. I am, well my name is not important. I am the one who stopped the one you have chased before. I am the one who has given you what you see now, yet not directly. I changed your life for the better, gave you friends, enemies, and some that are in between."

It was then that Odd noticed that the swirling yellow mist was growing, where at once it had only taken up the size of a recliner **(A/N: for lack of a better measure of area)** it was now about the size of a small car.

"Oh William, he is a strange one. Once deceived, once fooled. He's smarter now. Let's hope he will be fine. Oh! Yes, I almost forgot about you. Your time is not now. It is... later. Go back to your world, fight for your survival."

Odd saw the swirling mass of yellow mist fade away and darkness enveloped everything he saw. He still felt the peace that was on him before, yet something was changing inside of him. The peace was being stressed by something he could not replace. Like an old dream he had had before, yet didn't remember.

Then all at once he remembered.

The feeling was pain, and it now droned out all of the peace that he had embraced less than a second ago, and he could feel something hard against his back.

He opened his eyes to see a bright blue sky, with a thin, swirling cloud pass by. The sun was almost at its height, and the brightness made him close his eyes once more.

His hearing steadily came back to him, and when it did he wished it would go away once again.

He heard screaming, a screaming like no other he had heard before, and when he turned to look at the source, he saw Maya, on the floor, with a large spike of stone sticking out of her shoulder.

**Hope you liked this one, more to come. I think I'm going to start pacing myself on my stories. One day I'll do Kana, then the other Afterlife, and the other Arena.**

**Here we go, organization time!**

**Anyways, Alert & Fav if you think it's worth it, review whenever possible.**

**Peace!**


	16. Chapter 15 Battle of Void Castle P2

**Afterlife Part 15**

Jeremie and the others waited impatiently in the elevators. They had just caught word of another "terrorist attack" in a New York subway, and needed to see if it was more than simply an attack.

When the doors finally opened they practically ran through the lobby and into the hall to the right. When they went into the computer room, Jeremie gasped inwardly and ran even faster towards the supercomputer. He got in the seat and pressed a few buttons on the keyboard, looking up at a screen showing a fuzzy map of the void, now a fresh, green grass with a grey castle in the center.

"What did Maya do?" he asked to himself.

He went through the tapes of what had happened and facepalmed, "Oh Odd, what are you getting yourself into."

Aelita walked over to look at the monitor, "What's going on Jer?"

Jeremie quickly exited out of the tape showing Odd and Maya dancing, focusing instead on a map showing multiple red dots entering the castle, heading for the top.

"I don't know, it seems that... there are third-parties in the system..."

"Third-parties!" Aelita blurted, "How can there be... is it I.R.I.S.?"

Jeremie leaned back in his chair and put his face in his hands, "It has to be, who else?"

Ulrich walked forward, "Is I.R.I.S. in the system?"

Jeremie looked over to him with solemn eyes, "There is a large possibility, and they're jamming my systems from here, I can't make radio contact or see where our first-party entities are, that would be Odd and Maya."

"Well can you send us in?" Yumi asked.

Jeremie rubbed his chin, "We could, but I have no idea if we could stop the jam or even bring you back. You would have no radio contact and would be stuck with the weapons and ammo we give you on the spot."

Yumi nodded, "We'll take it, anything to get Odd back."

Jeremie sighed, "Alright, step into the chambers."

Yumi and Ulrich stepped toward the metal cylinders as they rose from the floor.

Aelita moved close to Jeremie and held his hand, "I want to go too."

He spoke softly, but with a protective hint in his voice, "Are you sure? I mean, it's dangerous, you might never come back."

Aelita smiled and put her hand to Jeremie's cheek, "You and I both know that's unlikely."

Jeremie smiled as they brushed lips, holding the kiss much longer than they usually do in front of the group. When they finally parted, Jeremie held his forehead to hers and whispered, "Be safe, beautiful."

"I will." Aelita said back.

She walked over to the chambers and entered one, as did Ulrich and Yumi.

When they were shut tight and the systems warmed up, Jeremie typed some commands into the computer, "Are you ready?"

They nodded, something Jeremie could see from the cameras inside, "All right... virtua-"

The others couldn't hear what he said next, the jamming already took effect once they began to virtualize.

When they were fully in the system, they looked around at their surroundings. They were in a vast green plain, one that made you want to run around and play in as soon as you saw it, no matter your age.

When they looked down at their gear, they were surprised to see different armor than before, what with the different setting.

Ulrich had black camo pants, black army boots, a black, camo, long sleeve top, and a black strip of cloth tied around his head. He had a long rifle, almost a sniper, with a short range scope mounted on top.

Yumi wore more practical things, metal plates were strapped to her shoulders and knees, with a green and brown short sleeve top and brown camo pants. She wore green army boot with two SMGs strapped to her thighs in holsters.

Aelita had pink camo pants, two pink face paint stripes along her cheeks, pink army boots, and pink, camo, short sleeve top. She had no weapon.

Ulrich put a finger to his lips motioning for them to get low in the tall grass.

He crawled onto a small hill and deployed a bipod, then put the scope to his eye.

"Two tangos standing outside the entrance, both with assault rifles and side arms. Looks like they only have minimal armor, they weren't expecting resistance."

Yumi crawled next to him, "You can take them, they're sitting ducks from our angle."

Ulrich held his breath and waited for his heartbeat to slow down, keeping the crosshairs on one's head.

When he steadied the shot, and knew he couldn't miss, he pulled the trigger.

The bullet downed him instantly, and the other next to him pulled up his rifle and fired wildly in their direction.

Ulrich fired three times before he finally managed to take him down.

He stood up quickly and motioned for everyone else to follow.

When they had sprinted to the door they stopped and peered around the corner slowly, checking for anyone in the building.

When Ulrich was about to step inside, screaming came from the stairway at the far end and an enemy soldier popped out and shot a flurry of bullets at him.

When Ulrich saw him he knew it was too late, the bullets were coming too fast, his head was propped out in the open. He would never have enough time to dodge them.

Just when they were about to hit him, his vision turned an odd shade of blue, and nothing happened. When he turned he saw Aelita, eyes shining blue, with her hand up in Ulrich's direction. He turned back and saw that a wall of blue light had flung itself up at Aelita's will, deflecting the bullets and saving his life..

Aelita's eyes stopped shining and she put her hand down, bringing down the wall.

"Thanks Aelita." Ulrich stammered out.

She smiled, "No problem."

Ulrich looked back into the castle and saw that the men were scrambling up the stairs.

"Quick! To the stairs!" he shouted.

When they were all inside the room gave off an eerie feeling. The rich tapestry, the golden embroidery, the fancy furnishings, all empty.

Ulrich sprinted forward and stepped into the stairway, weapon drawn. The men were already halfway to the top and shouting in an unintelligible language.

They made their way up the stairs and into a room with a glass wall opposite them, giving them a clear view of the plains stretching out into the horizon.

Ulrich was about to move on to the next room on his left when a bullet again took to the air and smashed in the concrete beside him.

Ulrich took the two pistols from their holsters and fired into the room where the bullet came from, breaking tons of glass and cracking off strips of concrete.

When he stopped his weapons were out of ammo, so he flicked a switch and sent the clips falling to the floor, before he moved behind cover.

Aelita charged a yellow orb in her hand, which quickly turned from an orb of energy into a ball of yellow, clear, crystal.

She sent it rolling into the room like a bowling ball, then turned to the others, "You might want to find cover."

Everyone got behind pillars and doors, overturned tables, something to distance themselves between the yellow orb.

Before they were mentally prepared for the blast, a great wall of fire came out of the room, and short shrieks of pain were heard.

When the fire receded, they continued and found burnt corpses, charred furniture, and partially melted glass.

"Don't mind this, we have to find Odd and Maya." Ulrich said, trying to keep Aelita and Yumi together at the sight of such horror.

They simply nodded.

When they made it to the next staircase, they readied their weapons. Ulrich reloaded his handguns, Yumi her SMGs, and Aelita closed her eyes and began to slightly glow a golden hue.

When they were ready, Ulrich nodded, then kicked the door in.

Four men were in the room, guns ready and muzzles blazing with fire, before everything stopped.

Ulrich thought it was his mind, working so fast that the world around him seemed slow, but it wasn't. He expected to feel pain, the concrete on his back, but nothing happened. He was halfway out of the doorway, in mid-air.

It was so quiet, with no sound anywhere, not even the normally unnoticed sound of their breathing was in the air.

Aelita however, was not paused. She was walking over to the men casually, holding a pistol and firing at their craniums one by one, except when she moved to the next, the bullets were held in place, with the soldiers looking at the bullets with large eyes.

When she turned towards Ulrich, her eyes were glowing a dim white, and when she smiled more dim light came from her mouth.

Then she dragged Yumi and Ulrich from where they were to the side, away from the bullets. Then she closed her eyes, and the calm quiet, peacefulness of before went away.

The bullets leapt into the enemies' heads, having them jerk backwards before going limp onto the floor, as lead peppered the concrete where they were previously standing.

Ulrich was laying on his back, staring at the ceiling.

Yumi was sitting up, looking out the window at the peacefulness of the plains stretched out before her.

Aelita picked up a small pistol from a dead soldier and put it in one of her holsters. She turned to Ulrich and Yumi, "Well, we better get moving."

**Thanks to ****VGCats-Rocks** **for going through thirty pages of Code Lyoko fanfic archives to help me get off my lazy butt and get some more chapters out. I might work on this some more, take a break from Kana. Anyways, *ahem***

**Thanks for reading! Alert & fav if you think it's worth it, review whenever you can.**

**Peace! :D**


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